Kim Sae Ron’s Former Management Accused Of Scamming Her Mother Through Hospital Bills
This article is part of our coverage of Kim Soo Hyun And Kim Sae Ron's Relationship. You can read more and view the entire timeline here.
On March 25, 2025, Kim Sae Ron‘s family spoke through Kwon Young Chan, the the head of the Korea Celebrity Suicide Prevention Association. In the interview, they denied the claims made by her ex-boyfriend, known as “K.” K claimed that her family had not cared for Kim Sae Ron through her struggles.
Kwon denied this firmly, casting doubt on K’s claims as someone who had only dated her for a year. Furthermore, Kim presented a receipt from a hospital bill to back up the family’s suspicions that her former agency and manager had tried to scam them out of money.
Kwon firstly admitted that Kim Sae Ron had a complicated relationship with her mother.
Her mother quit her job to act as her manager from her child acting days. She opposed both the move to the agency Gold Medalist and Kim’s relationship with Kim Soo-hyun. That might have made it hard for Kim to open up when things went badly. Still, they had a love-hate relationship that spanned over 25 years.
— Kwon Young Chan
Kim Sae Ron faced an emergency surgery that her former agency reportedly paid ₩5.00 million KRW (about $3,410 USD) for. According to critics, that amount is unusual for Korean citizens, even for urgent procedures related to suicide attempts, due to the hefty insurance that Koreans are entitled to. Medical records issued under Kim’s new legal name, “Kim Ah Im,” show that she was admitted to the hospital, but no detailed breakdown of the charges was provided. The documents also list her as a “100% insurance-covered” patient, suggesting most of her treatments should have been covered.
A total of ₩5.40 million KRW (about $3,680 USD) was paid, but the receipts lack itemized charges. It looks suspiciously like a ‘card-kkang’ transaction (a shady practice of disguising credit card cash loans as product purchases). For patients with full insurance, sutures or emergency treatment for the wrist should cost between ₩200,000 KRW (about $136 USD) to ₩400 million KRW (about $273,000 USD) at most. Even at a plastic surgery clinic, non-insurance procedures typically top out at ₩1.00 million KRW (about $682 USD) to ₩2.00 million KRW (about $1,360 USD). This amount just doesn’t make sense.
— Kwon Young Chan
Kwon continued to claim that while the payments were made with the agency CEO’s credit card, an investigation with the hospital found that a part of the ₩5.00 million KRW (about $3,410 USD) was charged to Kim Sae Ron’s mother’s personal credit card. The hospital staff also allegedly voiced that the person who brought the cards in for payment came back to retrieve leftover funds. This implies that Kim Sae Ron’s mother had footed a part of the bill, resulting in extra money which was collected as a refund by the agency’s staff.
The family has allegedly been trying to reach her former manager. This manager was the same who’s voice was heard in the bombshell voice recordings of Kim Sae Ron about her marriage.
Kwon ends off with his suspicions about the manager.
We tried to ask where the ₩5.40 million KRW (about $3,680 USD) was really spent, but we can’t reach him. He was extremely close to Kim Sae Ron, even helping her with all her meals. But every time she tried to make a comeback, personal details kept leaking. Then Lee Jin Ho would upload videos spreading unverified claims about her private life, fueling public negativity. It’s hard not to suspect that B may have been the source of those leaks.
— Kwon Young Chan
You can read more about her family’s refute of K’s claims below.
