Ex-girlfriend who blackmailed K-pop idol with sex video gets suspended sentence
The woman had told the idol to quit the industry by threatening him with sex videos filmed during their relationship
The former girlfriend of a 26-year-old South Korean pop star has been given a one-year suspended sentence for threatening to release a sex video of them together in a bid to end his career.
The Seoul Eastern District Court sentenced the woman to one year in prison, suspended for two years, for her threats to the K-pop singer, who is still active in the scene.
She was sentenced under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes (coercion using video recordings) and for property damage, according to legal platform LawTalk News on Wednesday.
The woman was also ordered to complete 40 hours of sexual violence counselling and barred from working at institutions involving children, teenagers and people with disabilities for four years.
The couple dated from November 2020 to March 2022, according to celebrity news website Kbizoom. As the relationship started deteriorating, the woman began blackmailing her boyfriend with sex videos filmed during their time together.
Her first threat was on December 10, 2021, when she created a social media account using the singer’s image and texted him the link along with a portion of a sex video involving the two, saying: “Quit being an idol. The only path left for you is the military.”
A month later, she escalated the threats, allegedly messaging him: “I’ll upload all our pictures and tag you. If you don’t talk to me, I’ll go all out. Sue me. I’ll make a new account and post everything.”
Then in December of the same year, she threw the singer’s phone and damaged it during an argument.
“The defendant used the sex video to threaten the victim and block his future as a public figure. The crime is not light,” the court said during sentencing. “It appears the victim suffered betrayal, humiliation and emotional distress.”
However, the court noted that her admission of guilt and remorse, the fact that the victim withdrew his complaint after a settlement, and that the video was not actually distributed, were factors in her favour during mitigation.
As the woman was a first-time offender and did not show a high risk of reoffending or a habitual pattern of sexual violence, among other considerations, the court said it did not order her identity to be disclosed, according to allkpop.com. The K-pop idol has also not been named for legal reasons.
In South Korea, sex scandals are viewed askance by the conservative society and can potentially end a celebrity’s career.
Businesses were quick to drop A-list actor Kim Soo-hyun in March when he came under criticism for his relationship with the late actress Kim Sae-ron, amid allegations that their relationship might have started when she was underage.
Last month, Taiwanese media reported that the actor might face a NT$130 million (US$4.34 million) lawsuit from convenience store giant 7-Eleven over a cancelled collaboration.
Kim had reportedly signed a contract for a merchandise collaboration and appearance at a cherry blossom festival in Kaohsiung in March. However, following the scandal, the collaboration was halted and Kim pulled out just five days before the festival.
“In Korea, being a celebrity isn’t just a special career,” Koo Jeong-woo, a sociology professor at Sungkyunkwan University, told The Korea Herald last month.
“In the case of fans and celebrities in particular, you can say that there’s something like a social contract between them, where fans say they will organise special events and conduct nice gestures for the celebrities’ successes, while expecting them to act responsibly in return.”
