'Supercar Pride' Webtoon Artist Yaongi Faces Serialization Controversy Amid Tax Evasion Allegations

Subscribers' "Is This Okay?" Negative Reactions
Naver Webtoon Draws Line: "Not Related to the Author's Private Life"

Popular webtoon artist Yaongi (real name Kim Nayoung) is facing controversy as she continues her serialization on Naver despite recent tax evasion allegations.

On the 9th of last month, the National Tax Service announced that it had launched an intensive tax investigation targeting a total of 84 individuals, including celebrities, athletes, YouTubers, and webtoon artists, who enjoy stable and high incomes based on their widespread popularity and social influence but have failed to fulfill their tax obligations.

During this process, it was revealed that Yaongi purchased supercars worth several hundred million won using company funds for personal use and evaded value-added tax by supplying her works to the corporation without issuing tax invoices.

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After the report, Yaongi deleted all posts related to the supercar and posted an apology on her social media on February 11. She explained, "The National Tax Service conducted a tax investigation on my one-person corporation on November 16, 2022, and I cooperated sincerely. As a result, it was acknowledged that there was no private use of my corporate card or vehicle."

She continued, "Some items were incorrectly processed and taxes were imposed on them. This is clearly my responsibility and a mistake caused by my lack of attention." She concluded, "I will faithfully fulfill my tax obligations in future activities and strive to be more strict with myself."

Webtoon True Beauty Photo by Naver Webtoon

Despite Yaongi’s explanation, subscribers’ reactions remain negative as the webtoon serialization continues. There is still public resentment due to the fact that she lived a lavish lifestyle with wealth accumulated without paying taxes properly. Moreover, most responses find it difficult to understand why Yaongi does not acknowledge the VAT evasion, even though the law clearly states that income from works by corporate business operators is subject to VAT taxable sales.

Responsibility is also directed at Naver Webtoon. It is said that even after the tax evasion controversy, they left paid episodes available or allowed serialization to continue for over six months after completion. In response, Naver Webtoon stated, "The artist’s personal controversies have nothing to do with the webtoon serialization," and explained, "If we were to ask the artist to suspend the work just because of a dishonorable incident, it would actually put Naver Webtoon in breach of contract."

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