‘The Glory’ director admits to school bullying allegations, apologises to victims
SEOUL - Hit Netflix series The Glory’s director Ahn Gil-ho on Sunday admitted to having physically assaulted younger students when he was in high school, after denying the allegations two days ago.
According to the statement released by his law firm Jipyong, the incident took place when Ahn, then 17 years old, was studying in the Philippines in 1996.
“After hearing that his girlfriend was teased by a group of her friends at (the middle) school, Ahn got emotional and gave an unforgettable wound to other people,” his lawyer Kim Mun Hui said in the statement.
“Director Ahn said he wants to ask for forgiveness from deep within his heart and would like to meet in person or communicate through the phone to convey his apology to those affected,” the lawyer added.
The Glory, which was first released on Netflix last December, depicts the life of a school violence victim, played by Song Hye-kyo, as she plots to exact revenge against a group of ill-bred former schoolmates, who torment her by burning her body with a hair curler.
The second part of series was released on Friday and soon topped the Netflix chart in Korea.
Any anonymous post surfaced online on Friday, alleging that Ahn and his friends had threatened and physically assaulted a group of students for about two hours after he found out that they teased his girlfriend.
“To be honest, if Ahn Gil Ho is living well, I don’t care to make an issue out of that.
“However, I’ve come to reveal this as it’s absurd and unforgivable for a school bully to direct a programme like The Glory that is meant to raise awareness about school violence,” the anonymous post reads, adding: “If he denies and wants to take legal action, I too will respond actively. What we want is justice. Aren’t people not supposed to do this? It’s so shameful.”
Ahn had initially denied the allegations, claiming that he could not recall having attacked anyone physically. - THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
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