Mr. Seunggi Lee, you still haven't settled the settlement issue with your former agency~

[My Daily = Reporter Park Seo-yeon] Singer and actor Lee Seung-gi won his lawsuit over a settlement with his former agency Hook Entertainment (now Chorokbaem Media), and part of the verdict was made public.

On the 8th, the agency Big Planet Made Entertainment revealed part of the verdict, saying, "The plaintiff's (Hook Entertainment) act of not paying the settlement amount and not providing settlement materials is an act that intentionally or at least grossly negligently failed to properly fulfill its obligation to settle album and music source profits to the defendant (Lee Seung Gi), thereby destroying the high level of trust that had formed between the plaintiff and the defendant."

This means that the judiciary has acknowledged that Hook Entertainment had a legal and contractual obligation to provide Lee Seung-gi with settlement data, but failed to do so for over 10 years, and that this behavior was intentional or due to gross negligence, and that it was an act that destroyed the relationship of trust with the artist.

Furthermore, according to the verdict, "In a situation where the plaintiff had exclusive control over the defendant's album and music source revenue data, the defendant, who had a high degree of trust in the plaintiff, would not have easily known that a settlement claim had arisen for album and music source revenue in a situation where the plaintiff was not properly performing its obligations to manage settlement data for album and music source revenue, prepare settlement statements, and provide settlement data." This is an admission by Lee Seung Gi, a singer under his agency, that it is not easy to judge the transparency of settlement details in a situation where his agency exclusively manages album and music source revenue.

Previously, in 2022, Lee Seung-gi sent a certified letter containing the contents of the incident where he had been with Hook Entertainment since his debut, stating that not only had he not settled his music revenue for 18 years, but he had also not received any settlement materials or settlement money, and notified the termination of his exclusive contract.

Afterwards, Hook Entertainment paid approximately 5.4 billion won in self-calculated settlement money and then filed a lawsuit to confirm the non-existence of debt, claiming a return of 900 million won on the grounds that they had settled too much advertising revenue.

Accordingly, in the first trial of the settlement lawsuit held on the 4th, the court ruled in favor of Lee Seung-gi and said, "Hook Entertainment must pay an additional 581 million won to Lee Seung-gi."

While continuing his legal battle with his former agency regarding settlement money, Lee Seung Gi directly appealed, "I ask that you do not make my juniors who started their careers at a young age like me suffer," and led to the legislation of a partial revision of the Enforcement Decree of the Popular Culture and Arts Industry Development Act, the so-called "Lee Seung Gi Incident Prevention Act," which requires entertainment agencies to provide their artists with settlement details and the accounting details that serve as the basis for them in writing at least once a year.

In this way, the court's ruling is expected to serve as another warning against unfair contract practices and opaque settlement systems in the entertainment industry.