'Illegal Outdoor Broadcasts by General Election Candidates' Gaseyeon Cast Fined 2 Million Won Confirmed

Confirmed 2 Million Won Fine for Candidates' Illegal Outdoor Broadcasting Charges During 2020 General Election

Fines have been confirmed for the cast members of the YouTube channel 'Garosero Research Institute' (Gaseyeon), who were prosecuted for illegal outdoor broadcasting with candidates during the 2020 general election.

On the 1st, Yonhap News reported, "The Supreme Court Division 1 (Presiding Justice Seo Kyunghwan) confirmed on the 11th of last month the original court ruling that sentenced Kang Yongseok and Kim Se-ui, who were indicted for violating the Public Official Election Act, to fines of 2 million won each."

They are accused of inviting 14 candidates for interviews outdoors and live streaming them on YouTube as pre-election campaigning during March to April 2020, just before the 21st general election.

The Public Official Election Act stipulates that organizations intending to invite candidates to hold talks and debates must report in advance and hold the events indoors.

The Gaseyeon side argued that they were not a 'group' prohibited from election campaigning under the election law and that the problematic program was only a general election planning broadcast, not a 'talk,' but this was not accepted.

The second trial court explained, "Even legal experts find the Public Official Election Act difficult to properly understand, and considering that the defendants broadcast without consulting the election commission, it is judged that they had awareness of the illegality."

Meanwhile, Kim Se-ui, the representative of Gaseyeon, was recently sued by mukbang YouTuber Jjuyang. Jjuyang’s side filed a complaint with the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office on the 30th of last month against Kim for charges including intimidation, coercion, and violation of the Information and Communications Network Act.

Previously, Kim made statements on the Gaseyeon YouTube live broadcast such as "Jjuyang met her ex-boyfriend, who worked as a waiter while working at a karaoke bar," and "Jjuyang has many things she is hiding."

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