The plagiarism trial involving K-pop singer Roy Kim resumed Thursday after a 17-month break.

A local Christian music composer had sued Kim, accusing the singer of plagiarism in the hit song “Bom, Bom, Bom.” When he lost the case on Aug. 21, 2015, the unidentified singer took the case to the appellate court.

The two sides met at the Seoul High Court to plead their cases.

The lower court had ruled in favor of Kim on the basis that while the two songs share some similarities, most of the details are very different. It also noted that Kim and the co-composer of the song had recorded earlier versions of the song that is very different from the plaintiff‘s song.

Prior to the trial’s resumption, Korea Copyright Commission in January submitted results of its analysis of the two songs.

This is not the first time Kim‘s 2013 song has been suspected of plagiarism. It has also been accused of plagiarizing other songs, including indie musician Acoustic Rain’s “Love is Canon”; none of the accusations has been validated yet.

Kim debuted in 2013 after winning Mnet’s music talent show “Superstar K.” 



By Yoon Min-sik
(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)