Lee Seung-gi says trust with Hook Entertainment CEO Kwon Jin-young has been broken

Lee Seung-gi [HOOK ENTERTAINMENT]

Singer and actor Lee Seung-gi confirmed Thursday that he had demanded that his agency, Hook Entertainment, publicly disclose his payment records, and during the process, his “trust was broken” with the agency's CEO, Kwon Jin-young, due to her alleged threats and insults.

In a statement released Thursday by Lee’s legal representatives, law firms Bae Kim & Lee (BKL) and Bestway, Lee had demanded his agency to disclose the entire account statement from all of the albums in which Lee had participated and pay him accordingly.

Lee, who has been a popular singer since his debut in 2004, claimed that he has not received any payment for the digital streams or downloads of his songs.

Lee has come out with 137 songs throughout his 18-year career, many of which are still widely-known hits.

“Lee has been represented by Hook Entertainment for 18 years since his debut, and fully trusted his agency when it came to matters of financial settlement,” his representatives said. “Because the agency did not in any way mention his financial compensation related to his music, Lee was not aware that profits were being made off of them, and he came to realize this only recently after one of the agency’s employees mistakenly sent a text to him.”

Representatives claim that Lee demanded his agency to come forward on the matter, but the agency shirked, giving out excuses and making degrading comments to Lee.

“During this process, Lee received threats and degrading insults from Kwon,” they said. “Lee then decided his relationship with Kwon and Hook Entertainment, whom he had depended on like family, could not be maintained any longer.”

Lee's representatives said they are planning to “closely inspect” legalities between Kwon and Lee in regard to other matters as well.

Related to the controversy, Kwon said through a statement released on Monday that “everything resulted from my negligence and lack of virtue.”

“If it is confirmed that Hook Entertainment or I have to take legal responsibility [for the matter], I will not dodge or avoid it,” she said.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]