Yunho Yunho Likely to Face Fine for 'After 10 PM Drinking' at Illegal Entertainment Venue

Yunho Yunho Cleared of Charges
May Incident Involving Fine Imposition

Yunho Yunho. /Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Na Ye-eun] Yunho of TVXQ (real name Jung Yun-ho), who was caught operating past the restricted hours at an illegal entertainment bar, avoided criminal punishment but was fined an administrative penalty.

According to the legal community on the 2nd, the Criminal Division 2 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Park Hyun-chul) requested Gangnam District Office on the 1st to impose fines on a total of 12 people, including the owner and two employees of the entertainment bar located in Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, three hostesses, and customers including Yunho.

Earlier, on February 25th, Yunho and others stayed past the COVID-19 business restriction hours at an unlicensed entertainment bar reported as a general restaurant in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, and were caught around 12:35 a.m. They were handed over to the prosecution in May.

At the time of the incident in May, violating business hour restrictions was subject to an administrative fine as a violation of quarantine compliance orders. Therefore, Yunho and others were not subject to criminal punishment as there was no provision for criminal charges, resulting in a 'no charges' disposition.

Regarding this, a prosecution official explained, "Of course, after the 4th stage, the notice was changed so that violating business hour restrictions falls under gathering restriction bans, making it subject to criminal fines."

However, the owner of the entertainment establishment who was caught together was non-detained indicted for violating the Food Sanitation Act related to operating an unlicensed entertainment bar. Additionally, two employees and three hostesses were summarily indicted with fines for the same charges.

Meanwhile, SM Entertainment, the agency, released an official statement on March 9th saying, "Yunho deeply regrets and reflects on disappointing many people due to a momentary lapse in judgment."

There were speculations that Yunho attempted to flee at the time, but the agency claimed, "When the police suddenly raided and conducted the crackdown, some friends were flustered and protested, but this happened independently of Yunho."

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