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The owner of a car rental company was found guilty of extorting money from a K-pop idol couple by threatening to release dashcam footage.
The Incheon District Court found the owner of the rental car company guilty of blackmail and handed down a sentence of eight months in prison, suspended for two years, according to legal sources on Saturday. The court also ordered 120 hours of community service.
In February, the owner rented a van to a K-pop girl group member. After the vehicle was returned, the owner reviewed the dashcam footage and discovered images of the idol engaging in physical contact with a male artist from another K-pop group.
The owner sent text messages to the renter, accusing her of inappropriate behavior in the back seat and referencing the man’s group while warning that there would be consequences if she did not acknowledge it. The owner demanded money, noting that the vehicle cost 47,000,000 won ($33,000) when purchased, for which the dashcam footage was cited as evidence.
Even after receiving money in two separate transfers, the owner continued to threaten to make the footage public unless more was paid, mentioning the dashcam and saying the recordings could be distributed. The idol transferred a total of 9.8 million won in three payments.
In handing down the sentence, the court said most of the money the owner had extorted was returned to the victim and noted the defendant’s admission of the crime and expression of remorse, and imposed a suspended prison term.
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.
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