On the 24th, Zico’s agency KOZ Entertainment announced on the fan community platform Weverse, 

“We have confirmed that recently various malicious posts and comments involving defamation, insults, and spreading false information about our artist Zico have been indiscriminately written on online communities and social media.”

The statement continued, “Particularly, the spread of malicious rumors and false information, which are clearly unrelated to the artist, has reached an intolerable level of severity, prompting us to take strong legal action. 

Accordingly, we have collected evidence from various online communities and social media and submitted complaints to investigative agencies. We plan to continue collecting evidence and filing complaints on a regular basis.”

The agency further clarified, “We also confirm that the recent rumors about the artist are untrue and we will respond firmly to these as well. We will take strict measures against those who post malicious comments, based on evidence gathered from fan reports and our monitoring. We will hold them accountable to the end, regardless of the time it takes, and there will be no leniency or settlements in any case.”

The statement concluded, “If you discover any malicious posts or illegal activities related to the artist, please actively report them to the official legal response account of KOZ Entertainment.”

Previously, on the SBS program ‘Unanswered Questions’ aired on the 22nd, a montage of the suspect who stole the late Goo Hara’s safe was released after four years. Following this, some netizens linked Zico’s past comments about a ‘golden phone’ to the suspect’s montage, speculating that Zico was the thief. KOZ Entertainment has denied these rumors and announced strong legal action against the spread of false information.

Below is the full statement from Zico’s agency, KOZ Entertainment:

Hello,

This is KOZ Entertainment.

We have confirmed that recently various malicious posts and comments involving defamation, insults, and spreading false information about our artist Zico have been indiscriminately written on online communities and social media.

Particularly, the spread of malicious rumors and false information, which are clearly unrelated to the artist, has reached an intolerable level of severity, prompting us to take strong legal action. Accordingly, we have collected evidence from various online communities and social media and submitted complaints to investigative agencies. We plan to continue collecting evidence and filing complaints on a regular basis.

We also confirm that the recent rumors about the artist are untrue and we will respond firmly to these as well.

We will take strict measures against those who post malicious comments, based on evidence gathered from fan reports and our monitoring. We will hold them accountable to the end, regardless of the time it takes, and there will be no leniency or settlements in any case.

Your interest and reports are a great help in our legal response. If you discover any malicious posts or illegal activities related to the artist, please actively report them to the official legal response account of KOZ Entertainment.