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Lee Seung Gi expressed his position regarding the ongoing payment issue with his agency Hook Entertainment.
In November, it was revealed that Lee Seung Gi forwarded the certification of contents to Hook Entertainment and asked for transparency in the payment for his music releases. It was also reported previously that Hook Entertainment's office was seized and searched by the Severe Crime Investigation Division of the National Police Agency due to embezzlement accusations of the higher-ups of the company.
Media outlet Dispatch also gave an exclusive detailed report that Lee Seung Gi has not been paid for the past 18 years for his music releases. They also shared that the statements from 2004 to 2009 for the singer-actor's revenue were missing. The news outlet also released several proofs and screenshots of the treatment of Hook Entertainment to Lee Seung Gi.
The agency Hook Entertainment's CEO Kwon Jin Young responded to the circulating reports and stated that they are still in the process of fact-checking.
On November 24th, Lee Seung Gi's legal representative released an official statement regarding the whole issue, it stated:
Hello, this is the legal representative of Lee Seung Gi.
First of all, we would like to apologize for causing concern regarding the problem with Lee Seung Gi and his agency. On behalf of Lee Seung Gi, we would like to express our position regarding the reports about unsettled payment for his music.
As reported, Lee Seung Gi sent Hook Entertainment a certification of contents in connection with the unsettled payment for his music on November 15th. We asked the agency to give us the profit breakdown from the distribution of all the releases of Lee Seung Gi and all the unpaid music that should be settled.
Since his debut, Lee Seung Gi actively promoted music and acting while signed under Hook Entertainment for the past 18 years. Regarding his activities in the entertainment industry and the statement of accounts, Lee Seung Gi trusted and followed Hook Entertainment wholeheartedly. Hook Entertainment never bring up anything about the payment for music so the singer-actor was not aware of generating profits from music. He recently knew about the truth about music profits after receiving accidentally a message from an employee. Since then, Lee Seung Gi requested the agency for the payment details a lot of times but Hook Entertainment gave false reasons such as "You are a minus singer" (he is a singer who does not create profit) and continually avoided giving out details.
In the process, Lee Seung Gi received hurtful insulting, and threatening words from the CEO's agency and decided on sending the certificate of contents through a legal representative. He has realized that beyond the unsettled payment issue for music, the trust and relationship with Hook Entertainment and CEO Kwon Jin Young who he had relied on like a family for a long time could not continue.
In addition to the unsettled payment for his music, we have decided to conduct a close review of all legal relationships between Hook Entertainment including CEO Kwon Jin Young and Lee Seung Gi. With this, we request Hook Entertainment to transparently disclose the overall sales and settlement details of Lee Seung Gi's activities in the entertainment industry through several certifications of content. We are looking forward to receiving a sincere response from Hook Entertainment.
We would like to thank and apologize to the many people who are supporting and giving attention to Lee Seung Gi in this matter. Lee Seung Gi will do his best so that this will not interfere with the activities and future projects he will do. We will inform you with a separate statement after reviewing the clear truths in greater detail.
