70-Year-Old Man Fined in First Trial for Vandalizing Broadcaster Song Hae Statue

Broadcaster Song Hae [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] A man in his 70s who was charged with damaging the statue of broadcaster Song Hae was sentenced to a fine.

On the 29th, according to the legal community, Judge Nam Shinhyang of the Criminal Division 17 at Seoul Central District Court sentenced A (74), who was charged with property damage, to a fine of 700,000 won. The court stated, "Considering the evidence lawfully collected and examined by this court, it is recognized that the glasses part of the statue was grabbed and torn off by hand, causing damage with intent."

A was brought to trial on charges of damaging the glasses part of Song's statue installed in Jongno-gu, Seoul, by grabbing and tearing it off with his hand in the afternoon of November 2019. A claimed in court that there was no intent to damage, but this was not accepted. A was also charged with grabbing a passerby's collar and kicking the back of the hand on the day of the crime, but the court dismissed this charge.

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