Kim Seon-ho’s agency denies South Korean actor set up shell firm to evade taxes

South Korean actor Kim Seon-ho’s agency, Fantagio, has issued a statement defending the star of Netflix’s Can This Love Be Translated? after he was accused of setting up a shell company to evade taxes.The claims are similar to those levelled against actor-singer Cha Eun-woo, a fellow Fantagio artiste, just days before. Cha is under investigation for allegedly setting up a one-person corporation to avoid paying about 20 billion won (US$13.6 million) in taxes.On Sunday, media outlet Sports Kyunghyang reported that Kim had set up a theatrical production company in January 2024, registering the business under his home address in Yongsan district.According to the report, Kim was registered as the company’s CEO while his parents were named as its internal director and auditor, being paid salaries ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of won.His father also reportedly used a corporate credit card for personal expenses and drove a Genesis GV80 that was registered under the company. Under South Korean law, using corporate funds for personal spending can be considered embezzlement or breach of trust.The implication was that Kim was running a one-man corporation in tandem with his agency representation to inflate corporate expenses and potentially reduce his tax liabilities.