A man identified as A, who falsely claimed that singer and actress IU was a "Chinese spy," has been sentenced to a suspended prison term.
According to Sisa Journal on October 10, the Seoul Central District Court, Criminal Division 21 (Presiding Judge Jang Sung Jin), on September 11, sentenced A to 10 months in prison, suspended for two years, along with a probation order. A was indicted on charges of defamation, insult, and violations of the Stalking Punishment Act.
A is accused of posting 29 false statements on his personal blog between May and July of last year, including claims such as "IU must be a spy" and "I hate Chinese spy IU." He also spread malicious posts alleging that IU belonged to a criminal organization or had committed murder.
The court also revealed that A continued to send threatening messages to employees of IU’s agency, EDAM Entertainment, after the company filed a lawsuit against him.
The court noted that A had a prior criminal record for similar offenses and stated, "The defendant repeatedly posted false claims over two months on a blog accessible to the public, and his threatening remarks caused extreme fear to others."
However, the court took into consideration A's history of mental health treatment since high school and the fact that his prior criminal record consisted of only one minor fine, ultimately imposing a suspended sentence.
The prosecution has appealed, arguing that the first-instance sentence was too lenient.
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