Actress Lee Young-ae was fined by the court after a YouTuber mentioned her connection with the wife of former President Yoon Suk-yeol, Kim Keon-hee.
According to the legal community on the 25th, the Uijeongbu District Court's Criminal Division 21 (Director General Kim Kyeong-soo) issued a summary order imposing a fine of 7 million won on Jung Cheon-soo, the former head of the YouTube channel Open Communication TV, who was summarily indicted for violating the Information and Communications Network Act (defamation).
Summary indictment is a procedure that requests penalties such as fines or administrative fines through written procedures without a formal trial. Earlier, the Seoul High Prosecutor's Office had summarily indicted Jung on the same charge in March.
Lee Young-ae donated 50 million won to the Rhee Syng-man Foundation for the construction of the Rhee Syng-man Memorial Hall in September 2023. When Open Communication TV reported that "Lee Young-ae's donation is related to the Yoon couple," Lee Young-ae's side claimed it was false information and filed a complaint against Jung at the Yongsan Police Station in Seoul.
The Yangju Police Station, which handled the initial investigation, decided not to forward the case, but after Lee Young-ae's side requested a reinvestigation, the case was transferred to the prosecution. Subsequently, the Uijeongbu District Prosecutor's Office made a first decision to not prosecute, but due to Lee Young-ae's appeal, the higher authority, the Seoul High Prosecutor's Office, ordered a reinvestigation and personally investigated the case.