Actor Youn Yuh-jung leaves her agency, Hook Entertainment

Youn Yuh-jung [HOOK ENTERTAINMENT]

Actor Youn Yuh-jung is leaving Hook Entertainment, her agency since 2017, the agency announced Tuesday.

Hook Entertainment made the announcement through a statement Tuesday saying that the contract with Youn ended and was not renewed.

“We announce that our contract with Youn has expired,” read the statement by Hook Entertainment. “We hope to see her in many more good roles in the future and wish her the best.”

Hook Entertainment recently came under fire after voice recordings and chat screenshots surfaced online, which suggest that the agency had never financially compensated singer Lee Seung-gi for his songs and continuously gaslighted him during his 18-year career.

Youn, a veteran actor, won an Oscar at the Academy Awards for her role of the grandmother Soon-ja in director Lee Isaac Chung’s “Minari” (2020). She was the first Korean actor to receive an Oscar and the second Asian actor to win the best supporting actress award, after Japanese-American actor Miyoshi Umeki for “Sayonara” (1957) in 1958.

Youn has won over 40 awards for her performance in “Minari,” including best supporting actress awards at the 27th Screen Actors GuiId Awards and the 74th British Academy of Film and Television Arts. She has since starred in the Apple TV+ drama “Pachinko” (2022).

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]