A YouTuber who spread false claims that Kim Hee-young, director of the T&C Foundation and partner of SK Group Chairman Tae-won Choi, was a Chinese spy has received a fine in a first trial.
Judge Kwon Min-jung of the Seoul Eastern District Court's Criminal Division 6 sentenced Park, a man in his 50s charged with violating the Information and Communications Network Act (defamation through statement of false facts), to a fine of 7 million won on the 9th.
The court stated that "the charges are found to be guilty, and given the nature of the medium, the potential for dissemination is considerable." It explained its reasoning for the sentence, adding, "However, the court took into account that the defendant confessed to the crime and has no prior record of similar punishment."
Park is accused of spreading false claims on his YouTube channel last year, saying, "SK actually shows pro-China and dangerous behavior, and one of them is Kim Hee-young," and that "(Director Kim) is highly likely to be a Chinese spy." Park is a figure known among individual investors as the so-called "Battery Uncle."
Earlier, at Park's first trial held on the 11th of last month, prosecutors sought a sentence of eight months in prison, saying, "Making baseless statements that are difficult to accept by common sense and uploading them constitutes a serious offense."
