A woman in her 30s was fined 6 million won (about $4,300) for posting a series of insulting and threatening messages on social media targeting actress Han Ji-min, 43. The court found that malicious posts spread online can cause lasting damage to a public figure's reputation.
Denied Dating Reports, Demanded Breakup in 19 Malicious Posts
According to legal sources on the 16th, Judge Lee Ye-rim of the Seoul Central District Court fined the woman, identified as A, 6 million won on charges of making threats and criminal insult.
A was indicted on charges of writing 19 insulting and threatening posts aimed at Han on her own social media accounts between September and October 2024.
The posts included statements such as "I will disrupt the films Han Ji-min appears in" and "Keep your mouth shut." A also tagged Han and people close to her when uploading the posts.
Investigators found that the conduct began after reports emerged in August that year that Han was dating Choi Jung-hoon, the vocalist of the band Jannabi.
A claimed the dating reports were false and demanded that Han release an article announcing a breakup and stop using social media, according to the investigation.
Han's agency, BH Entertainment, filed a criminal complaint against A with police in November 2024. Police questioned Han as the complainant and referred the case to prosecutors in March the following year. Prosecutors indicted A without detention after further investigation.
Court Says Negative Image Is Hard to Reverse Once Spread
The court found that A's posts went beyond mere expression of opinion and constituted criminal threats under the Criminal Act.
Lee said a threat requires notice of harm sufficient to instill fear in the other party, and that the court weighed the content of the posts, how often they were repeated and the circumstances in which they were written.
The judge pointed in particular to "the reality that unverified allegations about public figures are amplified and reproduced through social media, and that a negative image, once formed, is difficult to correct."
Even if A was not in a position to actually influence the actress's work, the court held, the posts themselves amounted to notice of harm capable of instilling fear in the victim.
The court also took into account that the reputation Han had built over a long career as an actress was seriously damaged by the malicious posts.
"There is a need to sound an alarm against the practice of relying on the anonymity of online spaces to attack others and spread malicious rumors," the court said.
The court did, however, treat A's lack of a prior record and her remorse as mitigating factors in sentencing. It also considered that it was difficult to conclude she intended to inflict physical harm or to obstruct the films' box-office performance, and imposed a fine.