Skincare company employee 'A' acquitted after posting secretly taken photos of Seventeen's Mingyu on SNS

The Cyber Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Police has acquitted a skincare company staff member, 'A', who was previously charged with secretly photographing Seventeen member Mingyu while he was topless. 

In September of 2023, 'A' came under fire for posting a series of photos of Mingyu from a certain photoshoot set on SNS. Based on the fact that 'A' had photographed a monitor from the photoshoot set used for checking the proofs from the shoot, and that in some of the photos, Mingyu was seen shirtless, many netizens suspected that the photos were taken without Mingyu's consent. 'A' was then reported to the police, and the skincare company, 'L'OCCITANE Korea', apologized on behalf of its employee for the controversial incident. 'A' was transferred to a different department following the scandal. 

Now, the police have concluded that the photos posted by 'A' on their SNS do not constitute photos of an individual's naked body taken without the person's consent, as Mingyu was shirtless for the purposes of a photoshoot. The police further determined that the photos likely did not cause Mingyu "humiliation", as the photoshoot itself was intended to advertise a certain product, and concluded that 'A' was not guilty "illegal filming". 

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