“Announce your breakup with Jannabi now”... Woman in her 30s who posted 19 threatening messages targeting Han Ji-min fined 6 million won

[Financial News]  An actress in her 30s who repeatedly posted messages containing threats and insults targeting Han Ji-min was fined in a first-instance ruling.
According to News1 and other outlets on the 16th, Judge Lee Ye-rim of Criminal Division 27 at the Seoul Central District Court fined a woman in her 30s, identified as A, 6 million won on charges of threats and insult.
A is accused of posting 19 messages on her social media (SNS) account from September to October 2024 that insulted or threatened Han Ji-min, including “I’ll sabotage the movie Han Ji-min is appearing in” and “Shut your mouth.” A was also found to have tagged Han Ji-min and her acquaintances in the posts.
The acts followed news in August of that year that Han Ji-min was dating Choi Jung-hoon, a singer in the band Jannabi. A reportedly also threatened Han, claiming her relationship with Choi was false and demanding that she announce their breakup and stop her SNS activities.
Han Ji-min’s agency, BH Entertainment, filed a complaint against A with the Seoul Gangnam Police Station in November 2024. In March last year, police forwarded A to the Prosecution Service (now the Prosecution Office) with a recommendation that she be indicted.
The court ruled that A’s posts constituted threats of harm capable of causing fear in the victim. It also found that spreading false information that damages another person’s reputation or image could constitute a threat.
The court explained its sentencing rationale, saying, “(The victim) is an actress whose work is based on public attention and who suffered serious damage to her image after becoming embroiled in controversy, despite striving for a long time to maintain a good reputation,” and, “There is a need to sound the alarm about acts of criticizing or cursing others and spreading malicious rumors while relying on the anonymity of online spaces.”
However, the court considered as mitigating factors that A was a first-time offender and appeared remorseful, and that she did not appear to have intended to inflict physical harm or go so far as to ruin the movie.
[email protected] Kim Su-yeon Reporter