Actor Nana, formerly of the girl group After School, has been cleared of wrongdoing after authorities ruled that the injuries she inflicted while stopping a man who broke into her home to rob her were an act of legitimate self-defense.

The Guri Police Precinct announced on Saturday that the man, who was arrested on charges of aggravated robbery causing injury, will be referred to the prosecution in custody on Monday.


According to police, the man entered Nana’s home while armed with a weapon, prompting a physical struggle with Nana and her mother as they tried to stop him. During the altercation, he suffered a laceration to his jaw believed to have been caused by the weapon.

Police reviewed witness and suspect statements to determine whether the actions in question constituted legitimate self-defense under Article 21, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Act. The provision states that an act taken to protect one’s own or another’s legal interests from an ongoing unlawful infringement is justified when there is “reasonable cause.”

“There was a real and immediate threat to the victims, and the investigation found that they did not inflict severe injuries on the suspect while defending themselves,” a police official said. “After reviewing the circumstances as a whole, we determined their actions fell under legitimate self-defense and did not pursue charges.”

Meanwhile, the intruder applied for a detention warrant review on Tuesday — two days after being taken into custody — claiming that police failed to read him his Miranda rights during the arrest. The court dismissed the request.

The intruder is accused of breaking into Nana’s home in Guri, Gyeonggi, around 6 a.m. on Nov. 15 while armed with a weapon, threatening and injuring Nana and her mother and demanding money.

On the day of the crime, he allegedly climbed up to the veranda using a ladder he had brought, entered through an unlocked door and choked Nana’s mother, causing injuries. Nana and her mother subdued him after a struggle and called the police.

According to Nana’s agency, Sublime, her mother suffered injuries serious enough to lose consciousness during the altercation, and Nana was also hurt and received treatment.

Police arrested the intruder at the scene on charges of attempted aggravated robbery. During questioning, he reportedly claimed he “didn’t know a celebrity lived there” and committed the crime because he had “no stable job and was short on living expenses.”


This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JANG GU-SEUL [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]