ENTERTAINMENT
‘Annual salary of 23.3 billion’ Lim Young-woong → ‘Arrest crossroads’ Kim Ho-jung
According to the 2023 audit report of Lim Young-woong's agency, Fish Music, published on the Financial Supervisory Service's Electronic Disclosure System on the 23rd, the total amount Lim Young-woong received from Fish Music last year is estimated to be 23.3 billion won.
The estimated amount is a sum of approximately KRW 19.2 billion in service fees (settlement), KRW 3.1 billion in unpaid settlement, and KRW 1 billion in dividends from Lim Young-woong, who owns 50% of Fish Music's shares. Compared to 2022 (KRW 13.6 billion), low-income loans increased by KRW 5.6 billion.
Analyzing this settlement, income from music, albums, and performances was approximately 24.8 billion won, down 27.4 billion won from the previous year. Considering that the number of albums released is the same, this can be interpreted as the effect of a decrease in the number of concerts. Content income was 5 billion won, up from 850 million won in 2022.
On the other hand, Kim Ho-joong is at the crossroads of arrest and is taking steps to leave the entertainment industry. Regardless of the results of the detention review scheduled for the 24th, the industry predicts that Kim Ho-joong will disappear from the entertainment industry.
Previously, Kim Ho-jung crossed the center line on a road in Apgujeong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul at around 11:40 pm on the 9th and ran away after colliding with a taxi on the opposite side. After the accident, a manager instead of Kim Ho-jung changed Kim Ho-jung's clothes and appeared at the police station, confessing on his behalf that he had driven the car. Another manager confessed to damaging the black box memory card of Kim Ho-jung's car.
Lee Gwang-deuk, the representative of the agency, later falsely explained, "Kim Ho-joong never drank and was unable to deal with the accident due to panic disorder, and he was the one who instigated the proxy's surrender," arousing public outrage.
Kim Ho-joong, who hid behind his agency and did not even apologize, directly admitted to drunk driving right after the second Changwon concert on the 19th, a whopping 10 days after the accident. Although he apologized to his fans through his fan cafe, he showed no reflection at all, saying "I will come back" and hastily mentioning his return before he could reflect on himself.
Kim Ho-jung made a private appearance at Gangnam Police Station in Seoul at 2 p.m. on the 21st and was interrogated for about three hours. Afterwards, Kim Ho-jung, who stood in front of reporters around 11 p.m., instead of admitting and reflecting on his crime, was criticized for his soulless apology, saying, “What can a criminal have to say?”
Afterwards, on the 22nd, the police applied to the prosecution for an arrest warrant for Kim Ho-jung, charging him with causing injury by dangerous driving and causing injury while fleeing under the Aggravated Punishment Act for Specific Crimes. Arrest warrants were also applied for the agency's CEO and headquarters manager. The prosecution accepted this and requested an arrest warrant from the court on the same day. Accordingly, Chief Judge Shin Young-hee, in charge of warrants at the Seoul Central District Court, plans to conduct an interrogation of the suspect (substantive warrant review) before Kim Ho-jung's arrest on the 24th.
While attention is being paid to whether the court will issue an arrest warrant for Kim Ho-joong, the industry believes that Kim Ho-joong's exit from the entertainment industry is a natural step. On the KBS viewer petition bulletin board alone, it is estimated that there are more than 10,000 petitions in total calling for Kim Ho-jung's permanent expulsion. As for Kim Ho-jung, who committed a rare deception against the public, his past misdeeds, such as suspicions of school violence during his school days and financial issues in which he did not repay his debts, are also being revealed one after another.
Choi Ji-ye, Ten Asia Reporter wisdomart@tenasia.co.kr
