Johnny Somali, an American YouTuber who has drawn outrage in Korea for bizarre antics such as kissing the "Statue of Peace," was sentenced to prison in the first trial and taken into custody. It has been about a year and six months since he stoked public anger with his antics in Korea.
On the 15th, Criminal Division 1 single-judge panel Judge Park Ji-won of the Seoul Western District Court sentenced Somali, who was charged with interfering with business and distributing fabricated sexual videos under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes, to six months in prison and 20 days of detention, and ordered a five-year employment restriction at institutions related to children, teenagers, and people with disabilities.
Prosecutors say that in Oct. last year, at a convenience store in Mapo District, Seoul, Somali blasted music and spilled instant noodle soup on a table, disrupting business. That same month, on a street in Mapo, he carried a foul-smelling bag of fish and approached numerous passersby, causing discomfort, and he is also accused of making a disturbance by getting on buses and subways, playing loud music, and dancing.
Earlier, through a YouTube live stream, Somali showed himself kissing the Statue of Peace and doing lewd dances. He also engaged in antics such as using the Rising Sun flag and shouting "Takeshima" (Japan's claimed name for Dokdo). However, the insult to the statue was not included in the charges considered in the sentencing that day.
At the first hearing of the trial, Somali once appeared in a white suit wearing a red hat that read "Make America Great Again" (MAGA).
On Feb. 27, at the first-trial sentencing hearing, prosecutors sought three years in prison and a 150,000 won fine for Somali.