![Late actor Kim Sae-ron at the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul on April 5, 2023. [YONHAP]](https://www.koreadailyus.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/0523-KimSaeron.jpg)
Late actor Kim Sae-ron dated a well-known K-pop artist around 2018, overlapping with the period between 2015 to 2021 when her family claims she dated actor Kim Soo-hyun, a report said on May 21.
Media outlet MoneyToday reported on May 21 that Kim Sae-ron had dated a famous older K-pop artist around 2018. This overlaps with the period during which Kim Sae-ron’s family claims she dated Kim Soo-hyun.
The K-pop artist and Kim Sae-ron reportedly broke up around early 2019 and got back together in early 2022, around the time she was dealing with the backlash from her drunk driving incident. MoneyToday reported that the boyfriend lent Kim Sae-ron a large sum of money at the time.
Kim Sae-ron reportedly introduced the man to her friends and did not keep the fact that they were dating a secret, according to the report. The two broke up in early 2023, but kept in touch until last year.
“Kim Sae-ron continued to meet with the idol as a friend after breaking up with him,” said an entertainment industry insider quoted by MoneyToday. “Referring to their relationship is only to determine whether the timing of Kim Sae-ron’s relationship with Kim Soo-hyun is true, and we do not want to indiscriminately dig up the idol’s personal information.”
Kim Sae-ron’s family claimed through the YouTube channel Hoverlab in March that the actor dated Kim Soo-hyun from late 2015, when she was still a minor, to July 2021. The evidence provided was text messages that Kim Sae-ron is believed to have sent to acquaintances when she was alive.
Claims followed that Kim Sae-ron had dated singer Woodz, real name Cho Seung-youn, between 2021 to 2022, and that she had different boyfriends in 2016 and in 2018. Woodz’s agency Edam Entertainment did not confirm whether the two had dated.
Kim Soo-hyun also dated an idol-turned-actor who wasn’t Kim Sae-ron for three years from 2016 to 2019, according to another exclusive report from MoneyToday on April 26.
The authenticity of the 2016 text messages between Kim Sae-ron and Kim Soo-hyun, presented as evidence by Kim Sae-ron’s family, has not been confirmed, with Kim Soo-hyun claiming that the sender of the messages was a third party or that they were fabricated entirely.
Kim Soo-hyun, while admitting that the two briefly dated in 2020, adamantly denied any romantic involvement when the late actor was still a minor.
Kim Soo-hyun’s agency, Goldmedalist, has pressed criminal charges against Hoverlab and its operator Kim Se-ui under the Act on the Punishment of Stalking Crimes.
BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]
