Actor Lee Jang Woo’s agency has issued a statement addressing recent reports claiming unpaid bills related to Hosukchon, a sundaeguk (Korean blood sausage soup) restaurant associated with the actor.
On March 17, Dispatch reported that Hosukchon allegedly failed to pay for supplied pork by-products, causing financial harm to a livestock distribution company. According to the report, the restaurant accumulated unpaid bills totaling 50 million KRW (approximately 33,500 USD) between November 2023 and May 2024. Although part of the debt was reportedly settled, additional balances arose, bringing the total outstanding amount to around 64 million KRW (approximately 42,900 USD) as of January this year.
In response, Lee Jang Woo’s agency released an official statement along with proof of payment showing that Hosukchon had transferred funds to its business partner, Mujin Co., Ltd., which was responsible for making payments to the supplier.
The agency clarified that Lee Jang Woo is a shareholder in Hosukchon and participates in its operations. However, the restaurant had fulfilled its contractual obligations to Mujin, and the issue arose only after Mujin failed to pass payments to the livestock distribution company. The statement emphasized that neither Hosukchon nor Lee Jang Woo has a direct contractual relationship with the supplier, making reports suggesting the actor personally failed to pay inaccurate.
The agency also denied claims that Mujin owned Hosukchon, stating that Mujin has never held any equity in the restaurant and that Lee Jang Woo has no direct connection to the company. Nevertheless, they acknowledged a degree of moral responsibility, noting that more oversight could have been exercised to ensure the intermediary company met its obligations.
Regarding attempts by the supplier to contact Lee Jang Woo through social media, the agency explained that the actor receives a large volume of messages daily, and messages from accounts he does not follow are filtered into a separate folder, making them difficult to review immediately. The agency stressed that the delayed response was not intentional.
The agency concluded by expressing regret over the misunderstandings caused by inaccurate reporting and stated that they will cooperate fully to resolve the matter smoothly.
"Hello, this is HUNUS Entertainment.
We would like to address the recent reports regarding actor Lee Jang Woo and the controversy over Hosukchon’s unpaid bills.
Actor Lee Jang Woo is a shareholder of Hosukchon and also participates in its operations. Hosukchon has already paid the full delivery payment to its contractual business counterpart, Mujin Co., Ltd., in accordance with the contract, and the issue arose afterward when Mujin was unable to pay Company A.
In other words, there is no direct contractual relationship between Company A and Hosukchon or actor Lee Jang Woo, and reports suggesting that actor Lee Jang Woo failed to make payment are not true. In addition, claims in some reports that Mujin was the owner of Hosukchon are also untrue. Mujin has never held any equity stake in Hosukchon. Actor Lee Jang Woo has no connection to Mujin either.
However, within this transaction structure, we do feel a moral responsibility for not having sufficiently monitored whether the intermediary company would fulfill its obligations. Also, regarding the point that the supplier attempted to reach out via social media: dozens of messages or more are received on actor Lee Jang Woo’s account every day, and messages from accounts he does not follow are categorized separately under message requests, making them difficult to check immediately. As such, it is true that he was not able to check the messages on time, but we clearly state that this was not an intentional attempt to avoid or ignore them.
For reference, we are attaching verifiable materials confirming Hosukchon’s payment to Mujin. We regret that misunderstandings arose due to information that is not true, and we will provide any necessary cooperation so that the matter can be resolved smoothly. Thank you."
No articles to show.
