Police End 7-Month Probe Into Kim Sae-ron Audio: AI Ruling Inconclusive, Original Missing

After a seven-month investigation into whether an audio recording alleging actor Kim Soo-hyun dated the late Kim Sae-ron when she was a minor was AI-manipulated, police have returned an inconclusive result.

On the 16th, Seoul’s Gangnam Police Station said it received a forensic report last month from the National Forensic Service. The agency replied that because the recording was not the original file and contained significant noise, it was technically difficult to determine whether AI manipulation had occurred.

The audio was first played at a May 7 press conference by YouTube channel Hover Lab and attorney Bu Ji-seok of Law Firm Buyou, who represents Kim Sae-ron’s family. Hover Lab claimed the clip captured a conversation the late actor had with an acquaintance and alleged Kim Soo-hyun had dated her while she was underage, sparking public outcry.

Kim’s side immediately called it an AI-fabricated fake, filing criminal complaints for defamation against Hover Lab operator Kim Se-eui and representatives of the family, and lodging a civil suit seeking 12 billion won in damages. In August, police sent the clip to the National Forensic Service for analysis.

The investigation’s handling has since drawn scrutiny.

Attorney Go Sang-rok, who represents Kim, said on YouTube the day prior that police never secured the purported full, more-than-one-hour original recording that Kim Se-eui claims exists, and that only a few minutes of audio―the same sample played at the press conference―were submitted for analysis.

He added that the partial sample was not turned over until roughly three months after the press event, and that it then took another four months to receive an “inconclusive” verdict―an outcome he argued was foreseeable from the start.

Questions about the case’s progress had surfaced early on. In October, YouTuber Eun Hyun-jang appeared as a witness during a National Assembly audit and criticized the Gangnam Police Station’s slow pace, saying roughly 16 to 20 cases involving personalities such as Tzuyang and actor Kim Soo-hyun were piling up with little movement.

Meanwhile, Kim Se-eui maintains the audio “cannot be AI-edited,” says he holds a full 47-48-minute file, and has signaled plans to release it on his YouTube channel.

(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Kyung-youn)