Korean actor Kang Ji Hwan has been given the order by Seoul High Court to make a payment of over $4 million to a production house after getting charged with sexual assault.

The actor had previously made a confession to drinking with two contracted agency employees and then sexually assaulting them. The incident took place at his home in July 2019. At that point, the actor received a sentence of 2.6 years in prison with a 3 years probationary period, meaning if he would ever commit a similar crime within the stipulated, he would serve time in jail.

According to recent legal reports, the civil affairs division of the Seoul High Court ruled in favor of Santa Claus, the production company, giving Kang Ji Hwan and Jellyfish Entertainment the order to jointly around $4,189,460.79 in damages.

The actor also had to quit the drama "Joseon Survival Period", due to his sexual assault case. The drama had only shot 12 episodes at the time Kang Ji Hwan dropped out. As Santa Claus had to shoot with a different actor for the remaining 8 episodes, the production company filed a lawsuit asking the actor to pay approximately $5,043,361.93 in damages.

The court said that the actor and Jellyfish Entertainment, his management company with whom he had an exclusive contract when "Joseon Survival Period" was being produced, were responsible for making the payment for the damages, according to his contract with the production company.

The court also increased the payment after making the judgment that the actor was responsible for some of the appearance fees that the drama production company had paid as they had to sign on another actor due to Kang Ji Hwan's departure.

Incidentally, it is common for actors and their management agencies to pay half of the damages each in such cases, the ratio may, however, vary depending on the degree of negligence. At present, according to reports, Kang Ji Hwan and Jellyfish Entertainment may make a move to appeal.

Kang Ji Hwan made his acting debut in 2002 in musical theatre, however, he first got fame with his first onscreen leading role in "Be Strong, Geum-soon!" in 2005. The K-drama made him popular pan-Asia, particularly in Taiwan, China, and Japan.

The actor made his big-screen debut in the independent film "Host and Guest", which was sent to various international film festivals.

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