Seo Yea-Ji embroiled in another scandal after finally apologizing

After 10 months, Seo Yea-ji has finally come out with a public apology for the scandals she had been embroiled in back in 2021. Here is a summary to catch you up on what exactly she did to earn the ire of the public, along with a new update and scandal in 2022!

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Seo Yea-Ji is a South Korean Actress and has been shockingly accused of several counts of bad behaviour in her personal life - not only in South Korea, but also in Spain.

How did this come about?

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Seo Yea-Ji was born on 6 April 1990 in Seoul, South Korea. The actress is the second of two daughters in her family.

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Initially, Seo Yea-Ji was set to become a TV news presenter. However, this changed when the CEO of her now ex-agency, Made in Chan Entertainment, saw her potential and persuaded her to try acting instead.

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Seo Yea-Ji entered the industry in 2013 as an advertisement actress and model and soon debuted formally into TV acting with her appearance on TvN’s ‘Potato Star 2013QR3’.

Despite being new to the industry at the time, her casting in MBC’s ‘Diary of a Night Watchman’ allowed Seo Yea-Ji to achieve stardom quickly in her early career beginnings. She played a lead role alongside South Korean boyband royalty Jung Yun-Ho (also known as U-Know Yunho of TVXQ).

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She is best known for her work in ‘Diary of a Night Watchman’, ‘Save Me’, ‘Lawless Lawyer’ and ‘It’s Okay to Not Be Okay’.

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Did you know? Seo Yea-Ji was appointed an honorary police officer by the Korean National Police Agency after her role as a righteous anti-corruption lawyer Ha Jae-Yi in 'Lawless Lawyer'.

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Although already popular in Korea, Seo Yea-Ji’s appearance in ‘It’s Okay to Not Be Okay’ catapulted the actress to international fame. The drama was serialized on the international streaming platform Netflix.

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Seo Yea-Ji managed to earn many nominations for her performances on TV. She was nominated for the MBC Best New Actress Award in 2014 for her breakout role in ‘Diary of a Night Watchman’, and the 14th Soompi Awards for Female Actor of the Year in 2019 for her work in ‘Lawless Lawyer’.

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Seo Yea-Ji won many acting awards for her role in ‘It’s Okay to Not Be Okay’, making her a top-tier talent and household name in South Korea.

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For her role in ‘It’s Okay to Not Be Okay’, the actress won two awards in the 5th Asia Artist Awards and three in the 7th Asia Pacific Star Awards ceremony.

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However, the outstanding image of Seo Yea-Ji (based on her professional achievements) is now tainted by scandals involving her relationships. The actress has been accused of being a nightmare in her personal life.

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Earlier in April, Dispatch revealed that ‘Crash Landing on You’ co-stars Kim Jung-Hyun and Seo Ji-Hye had allegedly been dating for a year. The news unexpectedly progressed into an ugly dispute between Kim Jung-Hyun with his agency, O& Entertainment.

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In the midst of the scandal, it was revealed that Kim Jung-Hyun used to date Seo Yea-Ji. The source was a text message exchange allegedly written by the two in the past.

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Dispatch reports that the leak gave the impression of Seo Yea-Ji as an overbearing girlfriend to Kim Jung-Hyun. According to the messages - if they were really hers - she forbade her then-boyfriend from any “skinship” and contact with female staff members during the filming of MBC’s ‘Time’ in 2018.

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With the revelation of the texts, netizens are now rethinking the shocking and unfriendly behaviour displayed by Kim Jung-Hyun towards his then co-star Seohyun. Soompi reported that initially, the actor explained his ‘bad attitude’ towards his co-stars during a press conference as a way for him to remain 'in character.' With the leaked texts, many are now theorizing that Seo Yea-Ji was to blame for the ‘bad attitude’ of the actor in those days.

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Soompi reports that Gold Medalist, Seo Yea-Ji’s agency, responded to the news by acknowledging the authenticity of the leaked exchange but dismissing its interpretation by the media. Rather than controlling behaviour, it described the context of the text messages as a “lover’s quarrel”. The agency further revealed that Kim Jung-Hyun had made similar requests towards the actress, forbidding her from having intimate on-screen contact with her male co-stars.

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Soon enough, however, news popped up of another scandal, supporting the narrative of Seo Yea-Ji having a history of controlling behaviour over her dating partners. It involved another alleged ex, U-Know Yunho.

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Allkpop cites staff members from the set of ‘Diary of a Night Watchman’ who claim to have seen the same kind of dynamic between Seo Yea-Ji and TVXQ’s Yunho when they worked together in 2018. Similar to the change in Kim Jung-Hyun's behaviour, Seo Yea-Ji’s co-star Yunho started acting differently mid-filming. He refused to speak with or be touched by staff members, especially female ones, during wardrobe and makeup changes.

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The witness accounts also revealed that Seo Yea-Ji was controlling over her own personal staff members. She would react aggressively when they talked to others on set, Allkpop reports. However, Allkpop adds that a long time staff member of the actress has stood up for Seo Yea-Ji and responded to the accusations. The employee says that the actress did not abuse her staff, despite of what others say.

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The behaviour demonstrated by Yunho from the staff's accounts was so similar to Kim Jung-Hyun’s on the set of ‘Time’, that netizens began to assume that Yunho and Seo Yea-Ji had been dating during ‘Diary of a Night Watchman’. Subsequently, they  linked Seo Yea-Ji, Yunho, and Kim Jung-Hyun to a blind item posted in May 2020 with shocking details about their relationships.

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Allkpop translated the blind item reported in May 2020: “...a top idol star H threw himself into the road after breaking up with G. It is known that celebrity H had continued to cling onto G after the breakup, visiting G's agency and even dieting with her when he heard G was on a diet.” The text adds that there was "another handsome male celebrity" referred to as "K" who also attempted to take his life after a breakup with "G".

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Finally, the mysterious blind item states that "K is best friends with top celebrity J, who is currently dating G." MEAWW reports that netizens have gone wild from the revelation in the recent scandals and speculate that Seo Yea-Ji is ‘G’, Yunho is ‘H’, Kim Jung-Hyun is ‘K’, and Kim Soo-Hyun (who happens to be Seo Yea-Ji’s co-star in ‘It’s Okay to Not Be Okay’) is ‘J’.

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In addition to accounts about her love life, there have also been accusations of Seo Yea-Ji abusing her friends while living in Spain. MEAWW reports that she was not only mean to her peers, but she allegedly also committed credit fraud. Reportedly, Seo Yea-Ji lied to her Korean friends in Madrid that Koreans back in South Korea usually shared bank details with their friends. Once she got their credit details, the actress would then allegedly use these data to buy flights for herself.

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More details on Seo Yea-Ji’s life in Spain have appeared in reports by MEAWW. they suggest that certain facts claimed by the actress about her time in Spain might be fabricated.

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The South China Morning Post recounts that Seo Yea-Ji told 'TV Daily' in 2014 that she had graduated from Complutense University of Madrid. She also claimed boldly n an interview with IZE Magazine that she had experienced discrimination from professors during her study in the Spanish university.

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In March 2017, Seo Yea-Ji answered yes to a direct question by one of the hosts on ‘Knowing Bros’ when asked if she had gone to university in Madrid. With the repetition of this information, many took it as fact that their beloved actress had studied in university abroad.

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The South China Morning Post notes that, despite the confirmation and repetition of the supposed fact that she had studied in Madrid, Seo Yea-Ji puzzlingly said in an interview with Women’s Sense in November 2017 that she had never gone to university in the Spanish capital.

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In an attempt to clear up the confusion, Gold Medalist made an official statement claiming that Seo Yea-Ji had been admitted to the Complutense University of Madrid but never attended classes there, because her career in Korea had already taken off by then.

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To get to the truth, Yonhap News attempted to reach the university for confirmation. The reply from the Complutense University of Madrid was that they are not at liberty to reveal any information about the matter due to university guidelines, South China Morning Post reports.

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With Seo Yea-Ji‘s reputation down in tatters, it is hard to believe whatever is being said or read about her. This is especially so with regards to the actress’s candidature in university, which is being questioned now with the many contradicting statements by her agency Gold Medalist and Seo Yea-Ji herself. Many are now accusing the actress of being dishonest by falsifying her own personal information and educational background, casting light onto her lack of credibility.

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Korea Times reports that the actress failed to turn up for a promotional event for her upcoming film, ‘Recalled’. Seo Yea-Ji’s no-show inconvenienced many present at the event, and Gold Medalist had to issue an official apology on her behalf.

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With her image as an actress damaged by the scandals, Forbes reports that Seo Yea-Ji has been replaced in what was supposed to be her upcoming drama, ‘Island’. Yahoo reports that she has also been dropped from her role as ambassador to several brands such as New Origin, Luna and AER.

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The sudden slew of allegations after one expose brought forth a huge damaging wave to Seo Yea-Ji’s reputation and career. It is uncertain if the actress can make a comeback from scandal that not only tarnished her credibility and integrity as a public figure but also revealed a dark side which many did not expect.

Read more: Seo Ji-Hye and Kim Jung-Hyun, dating? The news that set off a series of scandals

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From Allkpop, the actress has been the center of a new scandal in 2022 thanks to an anonymous netizen. The netizen had accused Seo Yea-ji's parents of being 'neighbours from hell', accusing them of being "physically violent" and uncivil towards their neighbours.

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The netizen had also backed up other aspects of their report by extending their accusations towards Seo Yea-ji. The anonymous post included CCTV footage that allegedly showed the actress being a nuisance towards neighbours in the residential car park, as she would block the pathways of her parents' neighbours that they could not exit their vehicles after parking.

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8days added that when confronted, Seo Yea-ji enlisted the help of Gold Medalist to settle the issue with a lawyer. After the settlement, the netizen added that the actress was unremorseful and even remarked: “You’re not going to write a post [about this] online, right?”

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It seems that the netizen was telling the truth as when reached out for comment by the media, Gold Medalist admitted that the event had indeed happened, Allkpop reports. With a new scandal hitting her so soon after finally apologizing, it seems that the actress' comeback with TvN's 'Eve' later this year will be a difficult one.

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