Yang Hyun Suk found "not guilty" of retaliation 'death threats' against Han Seo-hee

Article: Yang Hyun Suk who closed his eyes 'tightly' and bowed 90 degrees ruled 'innocent'.. "it's difficult to trust Han Seo-hee's statements"

Source: Joongang Ilbo

Yang Hyun Suk has been found "not guilty" of alleged "retaliation threat" charges. 

On the 22nd, Chief Judge Cho Byung-gyu of the Seoul Central District Court acquitted the former YG Entertainment CEO for reasons such as "credibility of the victim's statement" and "lack of evidence" for specific harm alleged. Kim Mo, former head of YG's management support office who was also charged with aiding and abetting Yang's crimes was also acquitted. 

Yang Hyun Suk was charged with placating and intimidating singer trainee Han Seo-hee who made statements related to former iKON member B.I regarding allegations of smoking marijuana and purchasing LSD. Yang and others were indicted without detention for threats of retaliation and coercion under the Aggravated Punishment Act. 

The prosecution applied the crime of intimidation due to the fact that what Yang Hyun Suk said to the informant A (Han Seo-hee) on the night of August 22, 2016 was true. After receiving a report from former chief Kim that Han Seo-hee made a statement against B.I to police, the next day Han Seo-hee was called to the 7th floor of the YG building. Yang Hyun Suk then threatened Han Seo-hee saying, "You should decide whether you'll be a good kid or bad kid. It's nothing for me to k*ll you off." At the trial on the 14th of last month, the prosecution demanded 3 years and 2 years in prison for Yang Hyun Suk and for former chief Kim, respectively. 

Yang Hyun Suk listened to the judge's verdict with his hands folded and his eyes tightly closed in the courtroom that day. He insisted he never made those remarks that day and questioned the reliability of Han Seo-hee's testimony. 

On the other hand, Han Seo-hee stated, "In the process of being investigated, the police tried to remind me of my memories. I didn't make it up, I remembered it. I was trying to remember it."

The court noted that Han Seo-hee's testimony regarding Yang Hyun Suk's words at the time changed provocatively, such as "I won't let you enter the entertainment industry" "It won't be easy to break into the entertainment industry (August 24, 25)" → "I'll k*ll you off the entertainment industry" (September 16, 2019) and "I'll kill you off the entertainment world (October 15)." The judge evaluated the remarks as "impressions" or "recommendations" during the investigation stage. 

He also pointed out that Han Seo-hee changed her words to "forced" since filing the public informant report in June 2019. He stated, "People's memories are generally blurred over time but she kept making more and more detailed statements as investigations went on. It's difficult to believe her statements regarding the threats unless there is an acceptable context or circumstance that changed."

Regarding the "fear" Han Seo-hee claimed she felt after Yang's words, the court stated, "It's hard to believe this since Han Seo-hee repeatedly provided drugs to Choi Seung-hyun (Big Bang TOP) since October 2016 and smoked together. Han Seo-hee herself had incentives to relieve responsibility of drug trafficking with YG's help and continued to demand 500 million won after reversing her statements."

However, the judge also scolded the former CEO stating, "Your series of actions, such as persuading or pressuring Han Seo-hee to reverse her statements about B.I on a criminal case are acts that violate the criminal justice functions such as an investigation and are highly likely to be criticized." 

Yang Hyun Suk who was listening with his hands held together and eyes closed, bowed 90 degrees to the court when he was acquitted. Yang who was also previously suspected of entertaining wealthy Malaysian businessmen with prostitutes was also finally cleared of charges in November 2019. 

Regarding his acquittal, a prosecution official stated, "We plan to actively review the appeal after carefully analyzing the verdict."

1. [+744, -24] Ah.. daebak. Seriously, who the hell is behind Yang Hyun Suk?
2. [+161, -6] So if those aren't threats, what exactly can we call threats then?
3. [+149, -5] This is a representative example of the type of verdict you get in our country if you have money.
4. [+68, -2] They can say he's "innocent" all they want but none of us believe in this. He's trying to cover the sky with the palm of his hands.
5. [+53, -5] How is this a country?
6. [+29, -1] Burning Sun ended in such an absurd way too..
7. [+23, -0] His genetics are innocent too, right ㅋ
8. [+18, -0] Ah.. of course it's ended like this.. money is seriously the best.. the dirty world is getting dirtier.. 
9. [+15, -0] Wow, his lawyer is seriously top notch. Just the possibility that he threatened the victim with blackmail was quite high as it is but he can't believe the victim's words? He can't detect his bullsh** lies? 
10. [+9, -0] YG seems to have a very close relationship with drugs. Yang Hyun Suk and Seungri.. are they untouchable sanctuaries or what?