On June 23, legal representatives of both Hook Entertainment and artist Lee Seung Gi appeared at Seoul Central District Court for the first hearing in the ongoing dispute over unpaid earnings. 

Previously, Hook Entertainment filed a legal complaint asking the court to confirm that all payables had been fulfilled against Lee Seung Gi, and no more dues remained after paying the artist 5.4 billion KRW in unpaid, overdue earnings from music distribution. In response, Lee Seung Gi's side filed a counter-complaint, demanding damages for Hook Entertainment's withholding of his earnings. 

But on this day, Hook Entertainment's legal representative put forward a different plea from the company's initial complaint, garnering attention. Rather than upholding the position that Hook Entertainment had no more payables to be met, the company argued that Lee Seung Gi was in fact "overpaid" for his advertisement earnings. Hook's legal representative claimed, "The commission that Lee Seung Gi was supposed to be paid for the airing of his advertisements decreased from 10% to 7%, but even after this change, Lee Seung Gi was paid 10%." Hook then demanded a return payment of 9 billion KRW. 

Earlier this year, Lee Seung Gi publicly revealed that he has never been paid from the distribution of his music via digital streaming services, even after releasing a total of 137 songs in his career. Once the singer legally demanded transparent records of his earnings, he was paid 5.4 billion KRW (1.3 billion KRW in actual earnings plus interest). Lee Seung Gi then proceeded to donate the full amount received from Hook Entertainment to charitable causes such as Seoul National University's Children's Hospital, and then announced his intention to move forward with a lawsuit against Hook for violation of business.

The next court hearing will take place on August 25.