IU Legal Response Notice… Serious Damage from Murder Threats → Sexual Harassment [Full Text]
Notice of IU‘s legal response... Serious damage including death threats and sexual harassment [Full text]
Singer and actress IU’s side announced the status of criminal complaints in 2024.
On the 11th, her agency EDAM Entertainment shared the status of criminal complaints in 2023-2024 received from her legal representative Shinwon Law Firm (hereinafter referred to as ‘Law Firm’) through an official statement.
The agency stated, “The verdicts or dispositions issued so far include 6 cases of fines (old-style disposition), 3 cases of conditional suspension of prosecution upon completion of education, and 1 case of conditional suspension of prosecution upon entrustment to a probation office.” “Among these, those who committed defamation, sexual harassment, and death threats in the form of cyberbullying by spreading groundless false information about IU are guilty of very serious crimes, so the prosecution requested a fine of 3 million won, but the defendants are not accepting this and are waiting for the results of the formal trial.” In the process, they added, “In addition to this, in the case of those who continuously harassed IU through various sites, the prosecution judged that the charges against them were serious and requested a formal trial (former public trial) in court rather than a summary procedure, and the trial is currently in progress.”
The agency also explained that some of the people who damaged IU‘s reputation by raising groundless suspicions of plagiarism around April to May of last year had personal information identified. They stated that among those they had secured personal information, it included someone believed to be a middle school classmate of IU. They then said, “We have determined that they are continuing to harass IU despite the ongoing case, so we are responding.”
They also revealed that they are taking additional legal action, such as filing a civil damages lawsuit against the person who led the accusation case against IU, and that they have recently obtained a significant portion of the parties’ personal information. Then, they reported, “The other party did not appear at the first hearing held at the Seoul Central District Court on July 24, but the second hearing is scheduled for December 4.”
They also notified those who spread false rumors (spy rumors) about IU. They said that although the suspect was identified and the police completed the first investigation, the suspect repeatedly refused to appear at the investigative agency during the process of conducting additional investigations, which caused the investigation to be somewhat prolonged. “The suspect has currently been sent to the prosecution and is awaiting disposition. Our company has actively cooperated with the investigation in accordance with due process, such as continuously obtaining and submitting additional evidence during the investigation process.”
IU‘s side promised strong legal action in the future, and solidified their position, saying, “We will not forgive for any reason,” and “If the same person’s malicious acts are discovered repeatedly in the future, we plan to take action so that they can be punished more severely based on the acquired information.” They said that they will continuously monitor various communities, including portal site news comments, to collect evidence, and asked domestic and international online communities and platform officials to “actively cooperate with the investigation.”
Finally, they said, “Our company and our artists will not make any agreements or show any leniency toward malicious commenters,” and “We will continue to respond strongly to those who write malicious posts, so we ask that you stop committing illegal acts through online platforms.”
Full text of official position from IU‘s agency EDAM Entertainment
This is EDAM Entertainment (hereinafter referred to as ‘Our Company’).
We have received the status of criminal complaints for 2023-2024 from Shinwon Law Firm (hereinafter referred to as ‘The Law Firm’), which is the legal representative of our company and our artists IU and WOODZ.
Our Company and The law firm has selected and filed lawsuits for serious cases that meet the elements of a crime among threats, insults, malicious dissemination of false information, and defamation, death threats and invasion of privacy, sexual harassment, distribution of pornography, illegal production and distribution of deepfakes (photo and video synthesis content using AI), and other illegal information distribution acts (hereinafter referred to as ‘illes’). As of now, there are approximately 180 defendants, and additional lawsuits are continuously being filed. Some of the rulings and the progress of the lawsuits so far are as follows.
1) The rulings or dispositions issued so far are 6 cases of fines (old-style disposition), 3 cases of conditional suspension of prosecution upon completion of education, and 1 case of conditional suspension of prosecution upon entrustment to a probation office. Among these, the person who committed defamation, sexual harassment, and death threats against IU by spreading groundless false information about her in the form of cyberbullying was sentenced to a fine of 3 million won by the prosecution because the nature of the crime was so serious, but the defendant appealed the decision and is currently awaiting the results of the formal trial. In addition, in the case of the person who continuously harassed IU through various sites, the prosecution judged that the crime was serious and requested a formal trial (former trial) to the court rather than a summary procedure, and the trial is currently in progress.
2) Some of the people who damaged IU’s reputation by raising groundless suspicions of plagiarism around April~May 2023 have been identified. In particular, some of them have been identified as having committed illegal acts using overseas servers and some are believed to be living overseas. Among them, there is one person who is presumed to be a middle school classmate of IU, and it has been determined that they have continued to harass IU despite the ongoing case, and we are responding accordingly. In addition, we are currently taking additional legal action, such as filing a civil damages lawsuit against the person who led the accusation case against IU, and we have recently obtained a significant portion of the personal information of the parties involved. The opposing party did not appear at the first hearing held at the Seoul Central District Court on July 24, but the second hearing is scheduled for December 4.
We have requested cooperation from relevant organizations regarding some malicious commenters who use overseas IP addresses or reside overseas, and we would like to inform you that the investigation process to track them has made some progress. However, we ask for your understanding that it is difficult to disclose specific details other than those mentioned above in order to maintain the confidentiality of the investigation.
3) After filing a complaint against the person who spread false rumors (spy theory) about IU around May 2023, the police quickly identified the suspect and completed the first investigation. However, the investigation was somewhat prolonged as the suspect repeatedly refused to appear before the investigative agency during the process of conducting additional investigations. The suspect has been sent to the prosecution and is awaiting disposition. We have actively cooperated with the investigation in accordance with due process, such as continuously obtaining and submitting additional evidence during the investigation process.
Our company and the law firm are continuing to take strong legal action to protect the artist‘s honor and personal rights. In addition to regular quarterly complaints, we are also filing individual complaints against illegal acts such as various threats, insults, dissemination of false information, sexual harassment, distribution of pornography and synthetic videos, by compiling fan reports and internal monitoring results. In this complaint as well, we have selected serious illegal acts and filed a criminal complaint based on the principle of not forgiving them for any reason and strongly punishing them.
In addition, we have collected and managed thousands of posts and comments that meet the elements of the crime of insult by slandering and insulting the artist, and have created a database of them. In the future, if the same person’s malicious acts are discovered repeatedly, we plan to take action to ensure that they are punished more severely based on the information we have obtained.
In the future, we will continue to monitor various communities such as portal site news comments, [Nate Pan], [Named], [Theqoo], [DC Inside - Other Drama Gallery], [DC Inside - Male Celebrity Gallery], [Soul Dresser], [Women‘s Generation], [Why Go Soo], [Instiz], [Daily Best Storage], [MLB Park], etc., and collect evidence. As artists and fans are continuously suffering due to malicious posts, we earnestly request that online communities and platform officials at home and abroad who are reading this post actively cooperate with the investigation.
Lastly, we would like to make it clear that our company and our artists will not make any agreements or show leniency toward malicious commenters. We will continue to respond strongly to the writers of malicious posts, so we ask that you stop committing illegal acts through online platforms. Thank you.
Jeong Hee-yeon, Donga.com reporter shine2562@donga.com
