English translation of the original Korean report. Images and source documents may contain Korean text.

Missing person report filed after being sued for 1.5 billion won embezzlement… Company posted 32.8 billion won deficit in recent two years

Former CEO A of drama production company Acmedia, in which the Won Asia Partners Fund—backed by Korea Zinc Chairman Choi Yoon-beom’s side and Korea Zinc—successively invested, has been missing for four months. A lost contact in early July and was sued at the end of that month on charges of embezzling 1.5 billion won at another company.

According to related reports and industry sources on the 3rd, A’s family filed a missing person report with police at the end of July after A did not return home for a long time. The Ilsanseobu Police Station in Gyeonggi Province is searching for A based on movements captured on CCTV and the last location where the mobile phone was turned off.

A, a former producer at a terrestrial broadcaster, served as CEO of Acmedia and then moved to an inside director position at auto parts company B in 2025. B Company had just newly entered the entertainment business at the time.

The embezzlement complaint was filed by B Company. B Company filed a complaint at the end of July, alleging A embezzled 1.5 billion won of company money. The amount corresponds to 1.14% of B Company’s equity. The Seongdong Police Station in Seoul is handling the embezzlement case. Police are keeping open both the possibility that A intentionally hid and the possibility that A met with an accident.

Acmedia is the company that produced the Disney+ drama ‘Casino’ and the KBS drama ‘The King’s Affection’. The company changed its name to Scene & Studio in the second half of last year.

Acmedia’s largest shareholder is the Won Asia Fund (Korea Growth Fund No. 1), which holds a 52% stake. Korea Zinc put money into this fund and listed it as a subsidiary (affiliate) in this year’s semi-annual report. Acmedia’s performance also enters Korea Zinc’s consolidated financial statements.

Acmedia is one of four entertainment companies in which Chairman Choi’s side invested first and the Won Asia Fund followed. Chairman Choi created an investment pool with family and personal money and invested in Acmedia, Slingshot Studio, Bespoke Lab, and High Hat from 2019 to 2021. The Won Asia Fund then invested in the same companies one after another one to two years later.

Won Asia Partners is a private equity fund management company established in 2019 by CEO Ji Chang-bae, a middle school classmate of Chairman Choi. Young Poong and MBK Partners, who are disputing management control with Korea Zinc, claim that the Won Asia Fund put 79 billion won into these four companies, of which 29 billion won went to Acmedia. Chairman Choi’s side says it received Acmedia bonds (convertible bonds) back with principal and interest, but the Young Poong and MBK side claims that 25 billion won worth of bonds held by the fund were converted into stock.

■ About 32.8 billion won deficit in recent two years… Largest shareholder’s fund company also acquired

Acmedia’s performance has deteriorated significantly over the past two years. According to the audit report posted on the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure system, Acmedia posted a net loss of 17.4 billion won in the fiscal year ended last March (April 2025-March 2026). Adding the previous year’s loss of 15.3 billion won, the total is about 32.8 billion won over two years.

Sales fell by nearly 60% in one year, from 71.2 billion won to 28.9 billion won. The state in which money spent on making dramas exceeds money earned has continued for a second year. Accumulated deficit (retained deficit) grew from 13.4 billion won two years ago to 46.1 billion won.

While deficits continued, in July last year Acmedia acquired and merged Focus E&N, a company wholly owned by the largest shareholder’s fund, for about 2.5 billion won. Of the 4.2 billion won in assets held by Focus E&N, 1.8 billion won was Acmedia stock. By acquiring a company holding its own stock, Acmedia gave 2.5 billion won to the largest shareholder’s fund.

Of the bonds (convertible bonds) issued by Acmedia, 3 billion won worth matured on the 29th of last month. Another fund classified as a Korea Zinc affiliate, Arbitrage Fund No. 1, also holds 5.7 billion won worth of Acmedia bonds (based on end-March book value).

Korea Zinc’s largest shareholder is YPC, a Young Poong affiliate, which holds a 25.21% stake as of the end of June. Chairman Choi has secured 17.72% (as of September) including specially related parties, and is disputing management control with Young Poong.

Korea Zinc maintains that its contribution to the Won Asia Fund was a normal investment. In a reply sent to Young Poong and MBK on the 22nd of last month, Korea Zinc’s audit committee said it would review allegations of misuse of funds and conflict of interest at the next meeting and then disclose whether to investigate.

Newsfield asked Korea Zinc whether it had checked the flow of Acmedia funds and how much loss it incurred from the Acmedia investment, but received no answer.