Hospital Claims Deceit by Lee and His Wife, While Lee Alleges Unauthorized Use of Family Photos

Lee Dong-gook's instagram

A legal conflict has arisen between former footballer Lee Dong-gook and a hospital where their last three children were born, with the hospital accusing the couple of attempting to deceive for financial gain, as reported by the police on Wednesday.

The hospital's manager, identified only by the last name Kim, filed a lawsuit against Lee Dong-gook and his wife on December 15. This follows a prior legal dispute where Lee asserted that the hospital violated his family's personality rights by using their photos for commercial purposes. 

▲ Lee Dong-gook's instagramLee brought the issue to an Incheon court last year, seeking mediation and claiming 1.2 billion won ($920,000) in compensation for the alleged unauthorized use of his family's photos. The court, however, dismissed Lee's mediation request this year, citing Kim's bankruptcy filing.

Lee's agency, Think Entertainment, stated that Kim's bankruptcy filing led to the dismissal of the mediation request. Kim countered, asserting that Lee was aware of the photo usage and only sought compensation after learning about Kim's legal dispute with someone close to Lee's family.

The JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, reported that Lee's family was aware of the photo usage at the hospital long before bringing the case to court, a claim Lee and his wife deny.

According to Lee's agency, the family discovered the photo usage three years ago when obtaining birth papers and subsequently requested the hospital to cease using the photos. Allegedly, the hospital continued using the images despite multiple requests, leading Lee to plan a defamation and false accusation lawsuit against Kim.

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Kang In sig, insig6622@naver.com