Updates on 'The Glory' actress Kim Hieora's ironic bully scandal

The Korea Times reported in April that Kim Hieora has reached a settlement with her school violence accusers, to clear the air and "reach a mutual understanding". This came seven months after she was first accused of being a bully in high school.

Image: Netflix

Kim Hieora is a South Korean actress most known for her role in the K-drama ‘The Glory’, where she plays a bully character. However, the actress is now under fire for being alleged to have actually been a bully during her middle school days, making her fictional depiction of her ‘The Glory’ character very ironic.

Image: Netflix

Kim Hieora is a South Korean actress born on March 18, 1989, in Wonju, South Korea. She started her journey in acting through acting in plays and musicals and gradually transitioned to the small screen in 2021.

Image: Netflix

Before shooting to fame, Sports Kyunghyang reports that Kim Hieora has had roles in several famous TV series, such as ‘Beyond Evil’, ‘Hospital Playlist 2’ and ‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’.

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The turning point in Kim Hieora's career came when she secured a significant role in the Netflix series 'The Glory’. Her portrayal of a bully garnered praise from critics and audiences alike, but that too ended up becoming a double edged sword for Kim Hieora due to her current scandal.

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‘The Glory’ is Netflix’s latest K-series that centers on a woman who seeks revenge on her former school bullies. Due to the many twists and turns and subject matter of the show, it is one of Netflix’s most watched non-English shows, according to a NME report!

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What made the show very anticipated was that ‘The Glory’ has scenes that are based on true events in 2006, according to Insider. From Bloomberg, the difficult subject matter was also praised for shedding light on South Korea’s school bullying problem and has been credited with starting a “bullying crackdown”.

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In ‘The Glory’, Kim Hieora plays the character of Lee Sa-ra, who was a bully who perpetuated physical abuse on the show’s main character, who is played by Song Hye-kyo.

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According to a Koreaboo article, Kim Hieora was cast in the role despite saying that she “wasn’t familiar (with the role) during the audition”. Despite her claims, she performed exceedingly well in the role and quickly became a fan favourite.

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In an unexpected turn of events, Kim Hieora's past came back to haunt her when allegations of her involvement in school bullying surfaced in a Dispatch expose on her past.

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Kim Hieora has been accused of extortion and harassment of schoolmates during her middle school years, according to Kpop Post. Her accusers have also claimed that she participated in a game called 'Big Sangji' while attending Sangji Girls' Middle School.

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Dispatch reported that Kim Hieora was a ninth-grade student when she committed these acts. More details on her alleged crimes include coercing an eighth-grade schoolmate to steal on her behalf by convincing her victim that she needed the money to support her bankrupt family.

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The report went on to say that while in Big Sangi, Kim Hieora also participated in stealing money from fellow students to spend on vices and would physically abuse those who did not comply.

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Dispatch has also attached several screenshots in their expose, not only showing what was alleged to be Kim Hieora's messages in 'Big Sangji's' message board but also showing Big Sangji gang members commenting on her role in ‘The Glory’.

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The expose was largely ironic given the situation of Kim Hieora playing a bully character in 'The Glory' and also discrediting her previous claims in a Koreaboo report that she wasn't familiar with the role.

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In their private chat screenshots provided by Dispatch Big Sangji gang members showed awareness of the irony of her playing the role of the bully in 'The Glory'. Some even said she was "the same as she was in middle school" and was "acting like real life”.

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According to Soompi, Kim Hieora’s agency, GRAM Entertainment, responded to the allegations with two public statements, saying that they were looking into the rumors, denied the actress’ involvement in school violence, and asserted that they had evidence to prove her innocence.

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Adding on to the public statements made by her agency, Kim Hieora too released a statement asserting her innocence on the matter and clarifying that she was not a perpetrator in school violence but was a mere bystander, reported Cosmo.

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Kim Hieora also stated that while she was not a bully or a bystander, she was a victim in several instances instead.

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In the same report, Kim Hieora stated that Big Sangji was not a bully group, but rather an online community for students at Sangji Girls' Middle School.

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Given the two conflicting accounts of the report from Dispatch and Kim Hieora and her agency’s statements, it is difficult to pinpoint the truth of the matter.

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However, on September 9, Dispatch published a new report showing a recorded phone conversation between Kim Hieora and her ex-schoolmate, in which the actress is heard allegedly admitting to the violence and apologising to her victim.

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According to Soompi, in response to Dispatch's release of the call and its transcript, Kim Hieora's agency also released their recorded version of the call, which is said to be the 'unedited' version of what happened between the actress and her accusers.

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According to the same Soompi report, GRAM Entertainment will also take legal action against Dispatch for the damage to their artist's reputation, and asserts that what happened between Kim Hieora and the alleged accuser in call was a personal issue between the two and not a matter of bullying.

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However, KBIzoom reports that netizens are now leaning towards the notion that Kim Hieora was indeed a bully: the allegedly 'unedited' transcript of the call released by GRAMME Entertainment conveniently edited out a threat made by Kim Hieora on the call, in which she threatened to reveal the accuser's personal information if they continued to file a report against the actress.

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This is the second time 'The Glory' has been embroiled in iconic controversy, as Nextshark reported in May that Ahn Gil-ho, the show's director, was previously accused of bullying as a high school student and admitted to committing school violence when he was younger.

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In an update after seven months, Kim Hieora was reported by Koreaboo to have reconciled with her accusers, where both the actress and her accusers have been reported to have made peace with each other.

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Kim Hieora's career has not progressed significantly since the bullying accusations. However, given the settlement reached with her accusers, Kim Hieora's career may have a chance to make a comeback.

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