Actress Finally Ends Long Legal Battle To Beat School Bully Allegation That Destroyed Her Rising Career
In March 2021, actress Shim Eun Woo (or Sim Eun Woo)—who was on the brink of her rise to stardom with a memorable role in the mega-hit K-Drama The World of the Married—was accused of having been a violent school bully when an anonymous “victim” (referred to as Lee) claimed they were outcast by the actress in middle school.
Initially, Shim Eun Woo’s agency denied the allegation. But then, later the same month, Shim Eun Woo admitted to having been a bully and issued a public apology for the scandal. With her admitting to the allegation, her career came to a full stop and she disappeared from the industry.
Two years later, in March 2023, Shim Eun Woo resurfaced: She posted a lengthy statement via her Instagram, trying to clear her name. In her statement, Shim claimed that while she did apologize to Lee and the public, she had been unable to communicate with Lee and scope what she had actually done.
It was at this point in time when Shim Eun Woo mentioned taking legal action against those leaving her malicious posts and comments. Her sudden denial, after having admitted to and apologized for her actions, did not sit well with K-Drama fans who accused her of pretending to have forgotten “what she had actually done” and even resenting the Lee for the scandal that ruined her acting career.
Three more years later, as of March 2025, the actress has risen again—but this time, with evidence from her long legal battle against the victim on charges of defamation.
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Everyone, please read with an open mind and understanding.
— Shim Eun Woo
In another long social media update, Shim Eun Woo shared the police investigation has since concluded that “It is difficult to determine that Shim Eun Woo, as claimed in the post by Lee, verbally abused and continuously harassed Lee along with her friends as part of an alleged bullying group.”
“I would like to break free from the false label of being a ‘school bully.’
Hello, this is Shim Eun Woo. From 2021 to 2022, 2023, 2024, and now 2025—this marks the fifth year that I have been carrying the weight of my school bully scandal. I truly want to free myself from the unfair stigma of being labeled a school violence perpetrator.
I want to put an end to this long and exhausting battle with Lee, who has hidden behind the internet and their family, someone I have never had the chance to meet or even see face to face, yet who has tormented me with false accusations. I have written this to lay everything out, so although my post may be a bit long, I sincerely ask you to read it.
How It All Started
May 2020: An anonymous comment was posted under a Nate Pann news article about me, saying something along the lines of, ‘I have to smear dirt on you somehow.’ (Attached Image 1)
March 8, 2021: Another anonymous post appeared on Nate Pann titled ‘Exposing Shim Eun Woo (Park So Ri) from The World of the Married for school violence.’ (Attached Image 2)
The post included a photo of their middle and high school student record as ‘evidence.’ It only showed that Lee had transferred schools, without stating any reason for the transfer. (Attached Image 3)”
Before I knew it, I had become labeled as a school bully.
On the morning of March 8, 2021, I first heard from my agency that a post about me had been uploaded on Nate Pann. My agency told me that, even if the contents of the post were untrue, I needed to recall as much as possible to quickly identify who wrote it and resolve the issue. However, no matter how many times I read the post, I had no idea who the author could be.
Although the post was false, I was worried that if it spread and have an uncontrollable impact. Soon, some of my old school friends started reaching out, expressing their concerns about the post. During this time, I heard that it might have been Lee who posted it. I had no particular memories of this person, but since it was crucial to prevent the post from spreading further, I needed to confirm whether Lee was indeed the original poster. If so, I wanted to hear them out, clear up any misunderstandings, and apologize if necessary.
So, I asked for Lee’s contact information, but instead, I was given the number of their Older Sister. Through this process, I confirmed that Lee was indeed the person who had written the post on Nate Pann, and I also discovered that the malicious comment I had initially dismissed back in 2020 had actually been written by the Older Sister.
That evening, I had a phone call with the Older Sister. I told her, ‘I’m truly sorry, but I don’t remember anything. Please allow me to speak directly with your sibling. If there’s something I’ve forgotten and it turns out to be true, I will sincerely apologize.’ I was simply waiting to get in direct contact with Lee at that point.”
— Shim Eun Woo
Shim Eun Woo also explained that it was out of pressure and fear that she apologized after admitting to having bullied Lee, which turned the public against her.
“I requested to meet Lee in person, but instead, they shared the recording of our conversation to the media.
A direct phone call with Lee did not take place. Instead, the two sisters recorded our conversation and, on March 9, they sent the recording to a journalist, claiming that I had indeed committed school violence against them. They conducted a phone interview with a media outlet, making it seem as though I had reached out to them because I remembered bullying them. As a result, articles were published with inaccurate information. (Attached Image 4)
On March 9, as Lee and the Older Sister’s claims spread across internet entertainment news, I was filming the K-Drama Fly, Butterfly, where I was playing a character who had been a victim of school violence. That day, I was scheduled to act in scenes where my character, traumatized by school violence, was struggling. My heart was in turmoil, and I was devastated. Despite the emotional burden, I did my best to complete the shoot, but by the end of the day, the tears I had been holding in all day overwhelmed me, and the shoot came to a hold. Although I wanted to pull myself together and finish the scene, I had no choice but to abandon it after the director’s concerned persuasion.
On March 10, I had a meeting with the head of the JTBC drama department, where I clearly stated, ‘I have never committed school violence against Lee.’ After this, the shoot for the show was paused for several days.
Both my agency and the entire production team repeatedly requested a direct meeting with Lee, but they refused to see me. (Without providing any clear reason, they eventually agreed to sit down with my agency’s director under the condition that I would be excluded from the meeting.) The result of that meeting was that they wanted a public apology.
So, why did I issue the apology when I didn’t do anything wrong? Here’s why I gave up on standing up against Lee:
I did not want to apologize. I couldn’t just apologize for something I didn’t do. However, at that time, I had only two options: Either withdrawing from the show voluntarily, or issue a public apology as requested by Lee.
My agency and I considered legal action, but we couldn’t predict how long that process would take. If the lawsuit dragged on, it would undoubtedly cause delays in both the filming and airing of the show. Eventually, due to the production team’s persuasion, I had no choice but to give up on taking stronger action against Lee.
An internal meeting was held within the production team, and after discussions, it was concluded that continuing with the planned filming would be difficult if the battle over ‘what’s true’ continued. As a result, the production team decided to issue a public apology, as requested by the other party.
The production team judged that it was practically impossible for us to prove there had been no school violence, since the incident had occurred so long ago. Therefore, we concluded that the only way to complete the project was to refrain from taking any legal action and, in a spirit of magnanimity, apologize for something that might have happened in the past, or for something I may not even remember. (Attached Image 5)
As a result, I was ultimately required to issue a public apology.
I couldn’t give up on the show that I had worked on for 7 months. Moreover, if I voluntarily left the show, the costs of reshooting and the damage it would cause to the entire production team were unimaginable. The enormous penalty fees I would have to pay were also something I couldn’t handle.
In the midst of all this, I began becoming persuaded by what the older adults kept telling me. They said, ‘Even if you didn’t commit school violence, during puberty, it’s easy to be hurt by a single word. Since so much time has passed, rather than debating who is right or wrong, you (as a public figure) should take the moral responsibility and apologize first as a quicker and wiser solution.’
I began to convince myself so and eventually made the foolish decision.
While I was going through this process, the show’s production director was heading to a location in Gyeonggi-do to meet with the Older Sister who was handling all the communication instead of Lee. But suddenly, I received a call from their father, who suggested we meet in Donghae, so I changed direction and met with my parents there. At that meeting, my parents promised that if I apologized to their daughter, they would ensure there would be no disruption to the production and airing of the show.”
— Shim Eun Woo
Through the years of living with the bullying allegation, Shim noted that she now suffers psychological conditions and is receiving treatment.
“The apology was not written by me alone. Every detail of the content was discussed with the production team, and I first sent the draft to Lee’s side for their confirmation. After they requested changes, I immediately made the revisions, and once I received their final approval, I posted the apology on my personal social media account on March 28, 2021…
…Despite initially agreeing to ensure there would be no disruption to the show production and airing if I posted a public apology, Lee’s side changed their mind. They claimed there was no genuine apology, and they refused to delete the post, which led to the controversy being reignited. The post remained online, and I quickly became labeled as someone who had committed and admitted to school violence…
…My biggest regret is apologizing for something I had never done. This entire situation was built entirely on Lee’s one-sided claims about events from my school days, and I ended up in this position, unable to do anything. I felt pathetic.
So, I desperately searched for evidence to prove false the claims that I caused harm by doing things I never did. As of 2023, it had been 18 years, so most of my classmates had lost contact over time. However, amid all that was happening, I was truly grateful that many of my former classmates wrote truthful testimony statements that served as evidence. The testimonies from my classmates continued even after that…
…It is true that I once intervened in a dispute between Lee and Classmate A. Contrary to Lee’s claims that I would speak ill of her and that such was “the norm,” I have never done anything like that. I also have never made up stories or sowed discord about Lee. If I had done so, Lee would have had to explain to whom and how I spoke about her, but her posts only contain one-sided claims. There was no physical harm or pushing, as she herself admitted in her own writings, stating that there was no physical violence…
…I also contacted my school teachers from 7th, 8th, and 9th grades. All three homeroom teachers said that if there had been enough school violence for Lee to transfer, they would have remembered, but they had no memory of such an incident. Moreover, the teacher who was our homeroom teacher in 7th grade said that if something like that had happened, it would have been shared with other teachers at the time. So, they asked other teachers, including the 7th-grade head teacher and other homeroom teachers, and not one of them remembered any of the school violence Lee claimed. (Images 17, 18, 19).”
— Shim Eun Woo
Revealing that her case especially faced difficulties amid biased investigators, changes in case representatives, as well as Lee remaining adamant against facing Shim Eun Woo in person…
“I submitted all the gathered testimonies and went through three thorough rounds of investigations at the police station. The investigator suggested a lie detector test, and without hesitation, I agreed to undergo the test (I had never lied, and the results proved that I was not guilty of any school violence). Naturally, I expected Lee to also take the lie detector test, hoping that it would help clarify the truth and aid the investigation. However, Lee refused the test for personal reasons, despite having previously suggested doing so in her own post.
The investigation was conducted with bias.
During the investigations at the police station on December 5 and 13, 2023, I was questioned for more than four hours. At the time, I had attended as the complainant, so I thought the investigators would focus on confirming that Lee’s post was false. However, from the beginning, the investigator criticized and blamed me as the complainant, and I was questioned in a manner similar to how a perpetrator would be questioned. The investigator asked irrelevant questions, such as, ‘What do you think iljin (school bully) means?’, ‘Was there an iljin at Bukpyeong Girls’ Middle School?’, ‘Did you hang out with any friends from Bukpyeong Girls’ Middle School?’, ‘Who were your friends?’, and ‘Who were the friends you got along with in 7th grade, and were they strong or dominant?’ These questions had no direct relevance to determining whether the post was false and instead criticized me for maintaining good relationships with many friends. It seemed that the investigator had already formed a biased assumption that I had likely been hanging out with so-called iljin (or troublemakers) and had bullied Lee.
Additionally, Classmate A, who was directly involved in the dispute with Lee, expressed their intention to provide a statement to the police as a witness, but there was no follow-up with Classmate A. Throughout the investigation, I was so frustrated and heartbroken. It remains one of the most difficult moments I remember. Even though I had never harassed anyone or engaged in bad behavior like being part of a bully group, I was treated like the perpetrator from the very start.
In the end, in April 2024, the investigation resulted in a decision of no prosecution. Despite the numerous testimonies proving that I was not a bully…The conclusion was that there was insufficient evidence to determine whether Lee’s statement was false, which made it difficult to punish Lee…
…On May 15, I issued a statement saying that I would request a re-investigation in order to right the wrong…I then began preparing a re-investigation request with the help of legal experts, and during that time, through my lawyer, I made a final request to see Lee. Lee’s representatives also expressed that it would be a good idea to meet up and discuss the situation before making the re-investigation request, and we scheduled a meeting for June 13. However, the day before the scheduled meeting, on June 12, Lee’s side changed their mind again, stating that they would not meet unless I apologized to Lee personally, thus canceling the meeting…
…Following this, I was notified that Lee’s legal representative, who had cooperated in arranging the meeting, was swapped out to another lawyer.”
— Shim Eun Woo
…the actress said it all came down to Lee asking her for compensation.
“In the end, it came down to Lee asking for financial compensation.
On August 7, I received a certified letter from Lee’s new legal representative. The subject read, ‘Regarding the discussion of a settlement concerning the school violence and false accusations against the addressee.’ In this letter, it was stated that I had bullied Lee under three main points:
1. Engaging in verbal abuse while ‘ganging up’ on Lee
2. Making up false facts to cause a rift between Lee and her friends
3. Entering Lee’s classroom with other bullies, locking the back door, and pushing Lee around while yelling ‘Don’t mess with me!’At the end of this letter sent by the new representative, there was a statement that seemed to represent Lee’s position, which included the following points:
1. Lee wanted to be free from the past and start a new life with loved ones as soon as possible
2. Rather than taking legal action against me for harassing her with lawsuits, Lee hoped to resolve the matter through a smooth settlement and requested the following:(1) I should no longer express my frustration about the case on my social media platforms or via interviews (articles)
(2) I should pay financial compensation for the past school violence offense and false accusations of LeeSocial media was my only escape where I could talk about how devastated I felt. I, too, wanted to break free from this situation. Due to Lee’s baseless false accusations, I had lost the career I had dreamed of my entire life and was barely getting by. However, what Lee ultimately wanted was for me to be quiet and hand over the money.”
— Shim Eun Woo
Shim Eun woo shared that a re-investigation did take place after all, and that, despite the court not overturning the initial ruling in favor of Lee, the police investigation cleared her name.
“My request for re-investigation was accepted.
…on July 3, 2024, I submitted a request for re-investigation to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency regarding Lee’s accusation. I had been advised that the chances of the re-investigation proceeding were slim, but it was the only option I had, so I requested it with a sense of desperation. Then, on September 27, I received the news that my request for re-investigation had been accepted. The reason for the re-investigation was that, during the previous police investigation, the specific details and falsity of the post written by Lee were not thoroughly examined, and the comments that seemed to support Lee’s post had not been verified for their truth. Therefore, they could not be used as a basis for evaluating Lee, which meant that a new investigation was necessary to reassess Lee’s involvement.
This is considered a rare occurrence, even nationwide, and it was made possible because I had carefully reorganized and submitted all the evidence materials and testimonies from relevant individuals to have the issue of whether false statements were made re-examined…
…Thus, the re-investigation took place. Since I had applied for a recusal of the original investigator, who I believed was conducting a biased investigation, my request was accepted, and a new officer was assigned to the case…
…In the end, Lee claimed that she had been bullied by me, but two of the classmates mentioned in her allegations both testified that Lee’s claims were false. Lee’s accusations were purely one-sided, without any objective evidence to support them. In fact, even the classmates Lee had directly mentioned contradicted her story. Therefore, I began to hope that the re-investigation would ultimately yield a favorable result. I spent each day praying, waiting for the outcome of the re-investigation.
On December 23, 2024, I received a notice that the previous decision of non-indictment was upheld. The reason for the decision was that there was insufficient evidence to determine that Lee knowingly created a false post, or at least was aware of the possibility that it might be false.
But in the investigation results sent by the police, it was clearly stated: “It is difficult to determine that Shim Eun Woo, as claimed in the post by Lee, verbally abused and continuously harassed Lee along with her friends as part of an alleged bullying group.”
However, because there was an incident where I was involved in a conflict between Lee and Classmate A, and afterward, Lee was ostracized by some friends, and because she believed this was due to my actions, and she expressed this belief to her family and some friends, the police judged that there was not enough evidence to conclude that Lee posted the allegation against me knowing it was false. In other words, even though I did not verbally abuse Lee or continuously harass her, the police determined that Lee could not be punished since she thought such to be the case and wrote the post believing so.
I did not ostracize Lee, inflict any emotional or verbal abuse, or spread false stories to cause conflicts…The police also determined that such events did not occur. Still, because Lee so firmly believed these things happened, and because she believed she was being bullied by me, she could not be punished for writing so.”
— Shim Eun Woo
Pleading to put her “bully” label to rest, Shim Eun Woo hoped she would be able to return to acting soon.
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“Although the result of my lawsuit is very disappointing, I will accept the outcome because I have made the best possible effort in accordance with the law to resolve my unjust situation.
I have no way of understanding why Lee is doing this…I just hope that, from now on, she tells the truth and lives an honest life…
…I was branded as a bully. As a result, I lost my entire career that I had worked so hard for and now live with nothing but physical and emotional scars. I don’t know how much longer I’ll have to endure such difficult times. To be honest, I am very scared right now. This is the reality I have to face alone. But I want to overcome this reality. I still have a lot of things I need to do.
I still haven’t had the chance to visit Jeju Island, and I need to repay my parents for all the hard work they’ve done for me. I also still have to pay off the student loan from the university I graduated from 10 years ago. After having lost my job for five years, I’ve struggled, and the financial burden from the lawsuit with Lee has been overwhelming. I’m grateful for the friends who have reached out to help me, and I’ll always remember their heartfelt support and love whenever I feel burnt out…
…which is why I want to drop all this and start living anew. Starting over as an actress, I’ll knock on new opportunities and fill my life with love and health, surrounded by the ones I love.
Lastly, I sincerely thank everyone who has supported me and hasn’t forgotten about me. Thank you for encouraging me not to give up and for reminding me that the truth will eventually come to light. I truly appreciate your heartfelt words. Thank you so much for reading this long message.
(I’m writing this for my loved ones in the future, to ensure I won’t be ashamed of myself, and to make sure I don’t have any regrets looking back.)”
— Shim Eun Woo
