YouTuber Tzuyang (real name Park Jung-won), who has over 12 million subscribers, was reported on the 18th to have applied for bail in court alongside YouTuber Gujae-yuk (real name Lee Jun-hee), who is on trial for extortion of money by threatening Tzuyang. Previously, Gujae-yuk was sentenced to 3 years in prison in the first trial, while Attorney Choi was sentenced to 2 years in prison, both of whom were taken into custody.
Gujae-yuk applied for bail on June 24th to the appellate court, Suwon District Court Criminal Division 3-3 (Presiding Judge Kim Eun-kyo, Jo Soon-pyo, Kim Tae-hwan), and the bail hearing was held on July 8th. Prior to this, Attorney Choi, who represented Tzuyang's ex-boyfriend, also applied for bail to the appellate court on April 4th, held the hearing on the 25th of the same month. The results of the hearings for both individuals have not yet been released.
Gujae-yuk, along with other YouTubers, is accused of extorting 55 million won from Tzuyang in February 2023 by threatening her with claims of "tax evasion regarding you (Tzuyang) and personal life allegations. If you pay, I won't publicize it." He was arrested and indicted on August 14th last year.
Additionally, Attorney Choi was brought to trial for leaking private information learned while handling a civil lawsuit involving Tzuyang's ex-boyfriend A and threatening to expose it. They were released on bail last January and are undergoing the first trial in a non-custodial state.
The first trial sentenced Gujae-yuk to 3 years in prison and Attorney Choi to 2 years, with both taken into custody. The first trial court stated regarding Gujae-yuk, "He clearly expressed the intention to extort money by exploiting weaknesses and showed signs of misleading public opinion, and did not show remorse even in court."
Furthermore, regarding Attorney Choi, it was stated, "An attorney's mission is to advocate basic human rights and realize social justice, but Choi demanded promotional support for his company's products and gained economic benefits by using information about the victim (Tzuyang)'s personal life."
Both individuals and the prosecution appealed the first trial verdict. The prosecution is seeking a sentence of 4 years for Gujae-yuk and 5 years for Attorney Choi, just as in the first trial, during the appeal. The ruling for the appeal is expected to be announced on September 5th.