Prosecutors Indict Seui Kim for Spreading False Information About Kim Soo-hyun... Stalking Charges Also Filed

25 Videos Airing Allegations About the Late Kim Sae-ron's Private Life
Also Charged With Illegal Distribution of Recordings and Coercion
Prosecutors: "Strict Response to Malicious Content Offenders"

Seui Kim, CEO of the Garosero Research Institute, who is accused of spreading false information about actor Kim Soo-hyun, has been indicted and will stand trial while in custody.

Kim Se, CEO of Garosero Research Institute. Yonhap News Agency

On June 23, the Second Division for Women and Children Crime Investigation at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (headed by Chief Prosecutor Park Jina) announced that Kim has been indicted and detained on charges of violating the Information and Communications Network Act (defamation), the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes (distribution of recordings or images made using cameras, etc.), and the Act on Punishment of Stalking Crimes.

According to the prosecution, Kim is suspected of disseminating false information about Kim Soo-hyun 25 times via YouTube broadcasts between March and December of last year. Despite the fact that Kim Soo-hyun never had a six-year relationship with the late Kim Sae-ron starting when she was 15 years old, Kim reportedly produced and distributed related videos using photos taken together when Kim Sae-ron was an adult, arbitrarily edited KakaoTalk chat screenshots, and fabricated audio files.

The prosecution found that Kim indiscriminately used false materials without any minimum fact-checking process and edited and distorted these materials at will, thereby spreading false information about Kim Soo-hyun’s private life.

Kim also faces charges of broadcasting, on five occasions in March of last year, a photo of Kim Soo-hyun doing the dishes wearing only a t-shirt and underwear during a YouTube broadcast. The prosecution has applied the charge of violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes by distributing recordings or images made using cameras, etc., to this conduct.

Additionally, Kim is charged with attempted coercion for making statements implying continued exposure of Kim Soo-hyun’s private life and demanding a public apology and acknowledgment that he dated Kim Sae-ron when she was a minor. The indictment also includes threats to air further exposés if a drama starring Kim Soo-hyun was released.

The prosecution also charged Kim with violating the Act on Punishment of Stalking Crimes, as he posted Kim Soo-hyun’s real name and face photos and repeatedly aired 34 videos exposing private matters between March and June of last year, in violation of a provisional court order.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, from the arrest warrant application stage, cooperated with the police to take Kim into custody, and after the transfer, conducted supplemental investigations such as additional victim interviews and forensic analysis of audio files by the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office’s Scientific Investigation Division.

The prosecution stated, “We will take a zero-tolerance approach to malicious content offenders who spread fake news and incite public criticism against specific individuals under the pretext of ‘public interest’ or ‘private sanctions’ in highly influential online spaces.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.