Korean Parliament Brings Back “Lee Seung Gi Law” To Regulate Entertainment Agencies

According to reports on September 5, KST, South Korea’s National Assembly has passed the so-called “Lee Seung Gi Law.”

On this day, the National Assembly’s Committee on Culture, Sports, and Tourism held a plenary session and passed a revised bill of the Popular Culture and Arts Industry Development Act. It has been sent to the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. This amendment has been colloquially dubbed the “Lee Seung Gi Law,” inspired by the case of Lee Seun Gi being duped out of millions in song revenue by his former agency, Hook Entertainment.

This law mandates that entertainment agencies are legally bound to share the revenue settlement details with the artist, even if they don’t request it upfront. The amendment was passed by the Culture Committee during the 21st National Assembly, but it got scrapped when the legislative term ended before it could pass the Judiciary Committee. During this time, the amended bill suggested that agencies disclose revenue to their artists at least once a year, but the new one allows this frequency to be decided by presidential decree.

The “Lee Seung Gi Law” is a direct consequence of the conflict between the singer and Hook Entertainment, which was exposed to the public in 2022. The singer had claimed that in his 18-year-long career as a singer, he had not received any revenue from his agency, and after a legal battle, Hook paid him nearly ₩5.40 billion KRW (about $4.05 million USD) in unpaid settlements and ₩1.20 billion KRW (about $900,000 USD) in delayed interest.

Though Hook Entertainment has filed a lawsuit to confirm that its debt to Lee is completely settled, the singer claims that he is owed even more money in advertising revenue.

Take a look at Lee Seung Gi’s complicated history with Hook Entertainment here.