"Makgeolli Company CEO Sentenced to Prison for Demanding 15 Billion Won Model Fee from Youngtak"

Allegation of False Information Disclosure

The representative of a Makgeolli manufacturing company who engaged in a trademark dispute with trot singer Youngtak was sentenced to imprisonment on charges of disseminating false information, including claims that Youngtak's side demanded 15 billion KRW as a modeling fee.

Trot singer Youngtak. [Photo by Instagram capture]

According to the legal community on the 19th, Judge Kim Seon-sook of the Seoul Eastern District Court Criminal Division 8 sentenced Baek, the CEO of Yecheon Brewery, and Cho, the branch manager of the Seoul branch, who were indicted for violating the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection (defamation), to six months in prison with a one-year probation.

Baek and others claimed in 2021 through the media and YouTube that "Youngtak's side demanded 5 billion KRW per year as a modeling fee, totaling 15 billion KRW over three years, and also requested to operate the agency stores free of charge." They also stated regarding the Youngtak Makgeolli trademark rights that "they received a contact from the Patent Office asking to obtain Youngtak's handwritten consent signature for trademark registration, which was requested from Youngtak's mother, but shortly after, the trademark was secretly applied for separately from Yecheon Brewery."

The court stated the sentencing rationale, saying, "Baek and others cleverly mixed falsehoods with facts that had occurred to publicly portray an abuse of power to the media and the public, thereby defaming and threatening Youngtak's mother. The victims suffered significant mental distress, including public criticism, due to this case."

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