Comedian Park Na-rae is understood to have spent hundreds of millions of won on controversies and lawsuits surrounding her, and there is a possibility of imprisonment.
On the 3rd of last month, the so-called "Park Na-rae chain controversy" began when former managers announced they would file a damages lawsuit against Park Na-rae and applied for provisional seizure of real estate. In this fight, which began with claims of workplace harassment and unpaid wages, the former managers have accused Park Na-rae of special injury, defamation, violations of the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, and embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. Park Na-rae has countersued the former managers on charges of attempted extortion and embezzlement in the course of duties and has taken a hard-line response.
In the long fight that has continued for about a month, attorney Jang Hyun-oh of SK Law Office raised an interesting claim on his YouTube channel. He classified the charges brought against Park Na-rae by likelihood of imprisonment and assigned scores. He divided them into moral wrongdoing (0–20 points), fines and penalty surcharge (20–40 points), fines and suspended sentences (40–80 points), and possibility of imprisonment (80 points or more).
Among the various allegations surrounding Park Na-rae, the most dangerous element is the suspicion of drug administration through the "injection aunt," and Attorney Jang analyzed, "Even if it is a first offense, depending on the response method, the possibility of imprisonment cannot be ruled out. Whether to add or subtract 1 point from the 80-point risk depends on her response."
Regarding the special injury charge, he said whether there is a settlement is key and gave it 75 points, and about the inappropriate behavior in the vehicle that caused controversy, he analyzed, "Sexual harassment is not a crime but workplace harassment. I see this as comparable to the level of fines, so 30 points."
Attorney Jang warned, "The court looks at multiple charges together. Because of concurrent offenses, there is a possibility of going to prison. If this state continues as is, there is a possibility of imprisonment," and advised, "Rather than excessively provoking the other party, find a point for settlement to avoid the worst-case scenario."
In particular, Attorney Jang expressed regret, saying, "When people get into a pride fight, only the lawyers make a lot of money. The manager earns 100 million to 200 million won and Park Na-rae goes to prison or gets a suspended sentence. I wish they had chosen rationally and reasonably."
In addition to Attorney Jang, some other lawyers also advised that Park Na-rae and the former managers reach a settlement. Lee Don-ho, representative attorney of Nova Law Office, said it would be better for Park Na-rae to settle and said, "If I were the agent, I would have halted the spread of the situation through an out-of-court settlement," adding, "The longer the controversy continues, the more damages of tens or hundreds of billions of won such as publicity and penalty payments may occur, but the money that must be paid to the managers is much lower than that, so settlement is better."
The legal community's view is leaning toward stopping the pride fight and finding a settlement with the managers so Park Na-rae can aim for a comeback before suffering greater damage. What choice will Park Na-rae make? Attention is focused on what she will gain from the fight in which money, honor and image have been lost.
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