Jung Hee-won, head of the low-grade aging research institute, and former contracted researcher A, who are embroiled in a he-said-she-said over allegations of stalking and attempted extortion, said A spread false information and warned some media outlets of legal action.
Law firm Hyeseok, which represents A, said in a press release on the afternoon of the 7th that it would take legal action over an article published by an entertainment outlet on the 6th. The previous day, that outlet had exclusively reported about approximately 4.6 million characters of mobile messenger messages said to have been exchanged between Jung Hee-won and A from Dec. 2023 to July 2025.
The released messages contained circumstances showing A mocking Jung Hee-won by mentioning illnesses and making threatening remarks such as "I know many reporters." By contrast, Jung said of A that "she was fresh and clearly contributed to popularizing low-grade aging," explaining that she had assigned A to assist with writing manuscripts and to handle communication·organization·promotion tasks.
Law firm Hyeseok said of the report, "Through intentional anonymization of photographic material, A's identity was exposed, and the article distorted the facts by relying only on some materials provided by the alleged perpetrator (Jung Hee-won), portraying A as a 'witch who plays the oppressed' and actively aligning with the perpetrator's public campaign that leads to secondary harm," noting that the outlet used photos posted on the "low-grade aging" production company's website, only blindfolded A's face, pointed with arrows, and exposed the body silhouette.
According to A's side, one hour after the report, the same photo was posted without blindfolding on the anonymous board of the university A graduated from, resulting in the public disclosure of both face and identity. As a result, A, who suffered a medical accident, has suffered serious secondary harm in the form of appearance-denigrating remarks about her face, hateful remarks that degrade women as sexual objects, and witch-hunt style personal attacks framing her as a 'gold digger' who manipulates the oppressed.
Hyeseok said, "We have strongly expressed concern about the currently realized risk of secondary harm," and added, "We define the outlet's reporting behavior as a kind of 'commissioned reporting' that amplifies and reproduces the intentions of the informant (Jung Hee-won), and we determined that such reporting behavior is undesirable not only for the parties' human rights but also for the media ecosystem, so we decided to take legal action against the outlet." It added that it will "file criminal charges for defamation by spreading false information under the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection as well as file a civil damages suit," and requested a halt to reporting.
Jung Hee-won filed a complaint against A for violating the anti-stalking law and attempted extortion, and A has countersued on charges of sexual assault, calling it "gender-based violence that occurred within power relations."
[Photo] Jung Hee-won YouTube.
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