Cha Ga Won hits back at Lee Seung Gi's 'monk' photo, demanding return of assets

Cha Ga Won, the chairperson of One Hundred, is locked in a tense war of words with singer and actor Lee Seung Gi, a former artist under her management umbrella.

On June 17, attorney Hyun Dong Yeop of the law firm Hwageum, acting as the legal representative for Chairperson Cha Ga Won, issued an official statement, saying, "We hope Mr. Lee Seung Gi personally practices 'coming with empty hands and leaving with empty hands'—the concept of non-possession."

Earlier that day, Lee Seung Gi had shared a photo on his personal social media account showing himself dressed as a Buddhist monk, a look he donned while filming the upcoming movie ‘About Family‘. Along with the photo, he promoted a Guest Visit (GV) event for the 30th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival.

However, shortly after the photo was posted, Chairperson Cha’s side fired back, stating, "We hope you return everything you received from Chairperson Cha Ga Won."

Chairperson Cha Ga Won is currently at the center of controversies involving delayed settlement payments to artists and unpaid wages to company executives and staff.

Lee Seung Gi, who is currently undergoing procedures to terminate his exclusive contract with the agency, previously made a revealing claim on the MBC investigative program ‘PD Notebook‘. He stated, "Chairperson Cha Ga Won consistently urged my wife and me to move into a rental unit in her building, saying the floor above her was vacant and that she wanted us to live close by and rely on each other."

Lee Seung Gi further claimed, "We rushed into the rental agreement, but she kept delaying the precise deposit amount, citing a late appraisal. Right after we moved in, she demanded 10.5 billion KRW (about 7.6 million USD) for the deposit—which was three times the amount initially discussed." He added, "She promised to cover the loan interest herself, but that promise is currently not being kept."

In response, Cha Ga Won’s camp counterargued by revealing a past gratitude message from Lee Seung Gi that read, "Thank you for letting me enter LaOO (the name of the residence)." Cha's side firmly refuted his claims, stating, "I have been personally paying the interest, which amounts to hundreds of millions of won per month, for the past three years. Lee Seung Gi's side is mistaken."