A streamer who extorted 840 million won ($618,100) from singer and musical actor Kim Jun-su, a former member of K-pop group TVXQ, by blackmailing him has been sentenced to seven years in prison, a ruling that was finalized on Tuesday.

The Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that sentenced the woman in her 30s to seven years in prison for violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, according to the legal community on Wednesday.


The streamer was indicted and detained on charges of blackmailing Kim a total of 101 times between September 2020 and October 2024. She threatened to release private conversations she had secretly recorded with Kim on social media, according to the prosecution.

At the sentencing hearing held on Jan. 16, prosecutors sought a seven-year prison term. The first trial court handed down the same sentence on Feb. 6.

“The nature of the crime is particularly egregious given the method, duration and amount extorted,” the court said. “The victim suffered financial and emotional harm and had petitioned for a heavy sentence."

The appellate court upheld the seven-year sentence on May 1, but added a confiscation order for one mobile phone and one smartphone used in the crime, thereby technically overturning part of the first ruling.

“The devices contained audio files of private conversations used to blackmail the victim,” the appeals court said. “If the seized devices were returned to the defendant, there would be a risk of further harm.”

The streamer, dissatisfied with the second trial's ruling, appealed just one day after the sentence was delivered, but the Supreme Court finalized her sentence with a decision to dismiss the appeal.

A decision to dismiss an appeal, unlike a ruling to dismiss an appeal, means that the reason claimed by the appellant does not correspond to a legitimate reason for appeal as stipulated by the Criminal Procedure Act, resulting in the reason for appeal not being reviewed.


Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY JANG GU-SEUL [kim.minyoung5@joongang.co.kr]