Singer Jung Joon-young, who served a five-year prison sentence for raping multiple women, was released Tuesday morning from a prison in Mokpo, South Jeolla.

Jung, along with Choi Jong-hoon, a former member of rock band FTIsland, and three others, was indicted for raping drunk unconscious women in Hongcheon County, Gangwon, in January 2016 and again in Daegu in March the same year.


Additionally, Jung was charged with secretly filming himself having sex with women and sharing the videos 11 times in mobile chat rooms since 2015. Initially sentenced to six years in prison, 80 hours of sexual violence treatment education and a five-year restriction on working in institutions caring for children or the disabled in November 2019, Jung appealed the decision.

The appellate court reduced the sentence to five years in April 2020, prompting further appeals from both Jung and the prosecutors. However, the Supreme Court upheld the prison term for Jung in September 2020.

Jung gained public attention after appearing on cable network Mnet’s audition program “Superstar K” (2021) and TV reality shows like KBS’s “2 Days & 1 Night” in 2019, but ceased all activities following the legal charges against him.

Choi completed his two-and-a-half-year sentence on Nov. 8, 2021, for the same crime as Jung.






BY KIM JI-YE [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]