Kim So Eun Absolved from Blame

It has been revealed that the problem caused by Kim So Eun's late arrival for filming has been solved amicably between Group Eight and SidusHQ. Kim So Eun was scheduled for filming at the Hyatt hotel on the 18th starting at 2pm. But she only arrived 4 hours later at 6pm, which caused a lot of trouble as filming only started at around 7 and lasted past midnight.

Group Eight expressed, "70 extras and 100 staff - this was a big film scene. The costs of renting the location, providing the food and flowers etc, was also a serious figure," and indicated yesterday that they would seek legal action against Kim So Eun's company.

Luckily for all involved, it was announced today that the problem between the production company and Kim So Eun's company had been resolved amicably yesterday. Kim So Eun's company representative said, "We had already asked for leave beforehand, but the CF shooting took longer than expected. Thankfully, we expressed how sorry we were when we arrived at the film set, and the director also accepted our apologies with a smile."

Kim So Eun's company representative added, "Before this, we have never been late once. Even if we had to cancel our other appointments, we already tried out best to not cause any inconvenience to the filming of Boys Over Flowers", and explained, "We actually started the CF filming at 4 - 5 am on the 18th. However, because the CF filming location was very far from the Boys Before Flowers film set, and also because of heavy traffic, we were late to the location for the film shoot. We are very sorry for the trouble caused to the drama filming. In the future, we will work hard to not repeat this mistake again."

Conflicts like this between production and management companies aren't new but most of them are usually just swept under the carpet. The case of Kim So Eun being highlighted and taken to task was perhaps a result of the drama and So Eun's high popularity.

According to a tv analyst, this is a problem that is unique to the drama industry in Korea. "Dramas are filmed concurrently with the tv broadcast. Usually, episodes that are shown next week will be filmed 1 - 2 weeks beforehand. As an actor, if they don't film CFs, etc during this period when their dramas are airing, they will miss out on lucrative opportunities and the exposure. So even at the expense of a drama, management agencies usually put CF shoots as a priority above drama filming and that's where conflicts in schedule start occuring."

Glad that everything has been resolved. It wouldn't be right for Kim So Eun to be blamed totally because she was just following her company's instructions. Hope that she can learn something here and gain some experience from this. But it's inevitable that her image has taken a hit. Let's hope her scenes with Kim Bum in Boys Before Flowers remain intact.

credit: kilaalaa@soompi (translation) + allkpop