Actor Kang Ji-hwan (real name Jo Tae-gyu, 44), who was convicted on charges of sexually assaulting and molesting drama outsourced staff, has been ordered to pay up to 5.3 billion won to the drama production company.



According to the legal community on the 24th, the 16th Civil Settlement Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Judge Im Ki-hwan) recently won the plaintiff's lawsuit in the first trial lawsuit against Kang and Kang's former agency by the drama production studio Santa Claus Entertainment. judged.



The court ruled that Mr. Kang should pay 5.34 billion won to Santa Claus, of which 610 million won should be shared with his former agency, which was under an exclusive contract at the time the drama production began.



If this judgment is finalized, Kang will have to pay at least 4.73 billion won and up to 5.34 billion won.



On July 9, 2019, Kang was charged with sexually assaulting one outsourced staff member and sexually assaulting another outsourced staff member while having a dinner with the staff of the drama 'Joseon Survival' at his home, and was sentenced to 2 years and 6 years in prison. A three-year probation was confirmed.



Because of this incident, Mr. Kang left Chosun Survival, which had only finished filming for 12 episodes at the time, and another actor was put in to finish filming for the remaining 8 episodes.



Santa Claus sued Kang to pay a total of 6.38 billion won, and the court accepted a large part of the plaintiff's claim.



The court judged that out of a total of 1.5 billion won received from the drama production company, about 610 million won, equivalent to eight episodes, of the total of 1.5 billion won received by Kang from the drama production company, 3,05 billion won in penalties according to the contract signed before the drama production, and the production company of the drama due to Kang's departure. He admitted that he was responsible for paying 1.68 billion won in damages caused by the sale of copyrights.



In the drama appearance contract written by Mr. Kang and Santa Claus, it was stipulated that 'the party who is attributable to the cancellation or termination of the contract must pay twice the larger of the performance fee or the down payment paid to the other party as a penalty'.



However, the court ruled that Kang was not obligated to pay the performance fee for the 12 episodes already filmed and the performance fee paid to the replacement actor.



(Photo = Yonhap News)