A letter that actor Kim Soo-hyun sent to his lover during his military service has been revealed. The recipient was not the late Kim Sae-ron but another known lover, serving as a rebuttal to the controversies surrounding Kim Soo-hyun’s alleged relationship with the deceased.
Kim Soo-hyun’s legal representative, attorney Go Sang-rok of Phil Law Firm, posted on his YouTube community board on the 30th: “The actor had a real lover with whom he dated from 2016 until the spring of 2019,” adding, “Throughout his military service, he called her whenever he had spare time and wrote daily notes expressing his feelings for her.”
He continued, “The diary that began on January 2, 2018, from his base assignment turned into letters sharing daily life and emotions with his lover starting that spring, and until just before the spring of 2019, about 150 diary-style letters remained.”
According to the released letters, Kim Soo-hyun wrote on April 6, 2018: “Just one. Your name. The name I so desperately want to write… but I can’t because I’m too much of a troublemaker soldier. I really want to write your name. I love you. Later, I’ll brag that you lived through my entire military service.”
Attorney Go explained, “Whenever he had time, the actor also wrote letters to acquaintances active outside, conveying his feelings about military life and his determination to return after discharge. Even the single public letter sent to the deceased was part of that context.”
On June 9, 2018, Kim Soo-hyun expressed his longing: “Thanks to you, my heart goes boom ba-raram this Saturday. Ah, as expected, I want to hear your voice, and when I hear it, I miss you, I want to hold you, it’s the perfect ending. This is truly military life. I love you, today as always!”
Attorney Go added, “At this time, the actor envisioned post-discharge travel not as solo trips to Japan or Northern Europe as written in the letter to the deceased, but as trips with his lover,” and disclosed further contents of the letters.
In a letter dated July 30, 2018, Kim Soo-hyun wrote to his lover: “I will definitely travel with her around this time next year. New things, things I’ve never done before. I will do them all with her.” On August 3, 2018, he added: “I think I’m treating her better than before enlisting. (omitted) I keep missing her, wanting to see her, making her happy… I’m so grateful I can do that.”
Go stated, “The actor specifically imagined trips and a deepening relationship with his lover after discharge, and his writings naturally reflect an ongoing, serious relationship, clearly distinguished from the letter sent to the deceased.”
He further explained, “Like anyone else, after enlistment the actor devoted himself fully to his lover, consistently expressing longing, gratitude, and self-reflection. Unlike the letter to the deceased, these records vividly show sincerity and effort to maintain the actual relationship.”
Additionally, Go pointed out: ▲The photo the deceased posted and later deleted on social media was taken in February 2020, when she became a college sophomore; ▲Some of the disclosed photos of Kim Soo-hyun and the late Kim Sae-ron together were actually taken between December 2019 and the following spring, during her adulthood.
Go concluded, “All the disclosed objective evidence consistently supports that the actor’s relationship with the deceased began in the summer of 2019 and ended the following year. The postcard the actor sent on November 1, 2019, was also written when the deceased was already an adult, and expressions like ‘I’ll keep nagging you from now on’ and ‘Even if we fight, I’ll be the first to apologize and give in’ are typical phrases exchanged between lovers who have just begun dating.”
