Actor Lee Hani, a former member of Seoul University, has been operating his personal agency without registering it for 10 years, a growing number of cases in the entertainment industry.

It has been revealed that actor Lee Han-i ran the entertainment planning company "Hope Project" for 10 years without registering it as a pop culture and arts planning company.
An official from Lee Hani's management office, Hope Project, said on the 22nd, "The Hope Project is a public
"We were unable to proceed with the registration process because we were not fully aware of the obligation to register as a cultural and artistic planning company," the company said. "After confirming the facts recently and receiving advice from experts, we have decided to proceed with the registration process in accordance with the relevant regulations.
Lee Hani founded HANI Co., Ltd. in 2015, Ireyoon Co., Ltd. in 2018, and Ireyoon Co., Ltd. in 2022.
In September 2018, the company name was changed to Hope Project Co., Ltd. Until January 2023, Lee Han-i served as the CEO and internal director, and currently, Lee Han-i's husband is the CEO and Lee Han-i serves as the internal director.
The Popular Culture and Arts Industry Development Act requires corporations and individual businesses to go through the registration process in order to operate a popular culture and arts planning business. Operating without registration can result in imprisonment of up to two years or
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has announced that it will be issuing a fine of up to 20 million won (approximately 2 million yen) to the entire industry until December 31st in response to the recent spate of cases of non-registration in the entertainment industry.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced that it will hold a first-generation registration awareness period for the pop culture and arts planning industry. An official from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said, "This awareness period is an opportunity for the industry to check its legal obligations and complete its registration by itself.
"It will create a transparent and lawful management environment, protect pop culture and artists, and increase the credibility of the industry," he said.
Prior to this, not only Lee Han-i but also musical actors including Sung Si Kyung
Ok Ju Hyun (Fin.KL), actor Kang Dong Woo Won, singers SONG GAIN, Kim Wan Sun, and CL of 2NE1 have decided not to register as a pop culture and arts planning company.
It was revealed that these management offices had been operating without being aware of the regulations, and that they were belatedly in the process of registering.
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