'Late Goo Hara Assault and Threat' Choi Jong-beom Sentenced to 1 Year in Prison... Acquitted of Illegal Filming Charges

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Bae Kyunghwan] Choi Jongbeom, who was tried for assaulting and threatening the late Goo Hara, has been sentenced to one year in prison. However, the charge of filming Goo's body without consent was upheld as not guilty, consistent with the lower court's ruling.

On the 15th, the Supreme Court's 1st Division (Presiding Justice Park Junghwa) announced that it upheld the lower court's ruling sentencing Choi to one year in prison in the appeal trial on charges including filming using a camera under the Sexual Violence Punishment Act, injury, and threats.

Previously, in September 2018, Choi was tried for causing bruises on Goo's arms and legs during an argument and threatening to distribute a sex video. He was also charged with filming Goo's body in August of the same year and forcing her to kneel and apologize to the then agency representative.

The first and second trials recognized most of Choi's charges such as threats and coercion, sentencing him to one year and six months in prison with three years of probation and one year in prison, respectively. Choi was sentenced to actual imprisonment and detained in court after the second trial.

The key issue was the illegal filming charge, for which not guilty verdicts were given in both the first and second trials. Both courts accepted Choi's claim that he had implicit consent to film Goo's body and acquitted him.

On this day, the court acknowledged most charges including property damage, injury, threats, and coercion, but, as in the lower courts, ruled not guilty on the illegal filming charge. The court stated, "There is no error in the legal reasoning of the lower court's ruling that acquitted the charge of filming using a camera, nor did it affect the judgment."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.