Lee Mi Sook Must Pay But Not What Her Agency Demands

Actress Lee Mi Sook felt she did not owe her former management agency anything but the courts disagreed.

On July 25, the Seoul High Court ruled that the star of the KBS drama "You're The Best Lee Soon Shin" must pay her former management agency around $110,000 for breaching a four-year contract that she signed in 2006 and ended in 2009. This decision ended several years of legal wrangling between the actress and her agency, which involved lawsuits, counter-suits and appeals.

Her former agency, Contents Entertainment, was not happy with this week's ruling because they claim that she owes them twice that amount.

 "Lee Mi Sook violated her exclusive contract with us and signed another exclusive contract with Hoya Spotainment," said the CEO of Contents Entertainment. "As a result, she must pay Contents Entertainment 20 percent of the profit after in her remaining contract with the company, which is 300 million Korean won (almost $300,00)."

The judge recognized that the actress violated her contract but did not agree with the agency's calculations, which he considered excessive.

"I recognize that Lee Mi Sook violated her exclusive contract but, I cannot help but assume that the money the defendant claims to have spent on the plaintiff has been inflated," said the judge. "As a result, I dismissed the allegation regarding monetary compensation."

The agency claims to have spent money on a scandal that involved the actress and a man 17 years her junior. The scandal was hushed up to prevent her image from being ruined.

"If news about this spread back then, she would have had to quit being an actress," said a representative of her agency. "This man knew that and used this information to blackmail and even threaten Lee Mi Sook. We ended up settling this matter by giving him millions of won."

Rumors began to spread that the actress had an affair with the younger man while she was still married and that the relationship prompted her divorce from her plastic surgeon husband. The actress counter-sued her agency for defamation and sued a newspaper reporter for spreading such unfounded rumors.

The rumors did not seem to hurt Lee Mi Sook's career as she still snags good roles. The actress has appeared in dozens of films and dramas, including "Love Rain," "A Thousand Days Promise," Cinderella's Sister" and "East of Eden." She won a Top Excellence Award for her acting in "East of Eden."