A female livestreamer who extorted hundreds of millions of won from singer and musical actor Kim Junsu — better known by his stage name XIA Junsu and a former member of TVXQ — has had a sentence of seven years in prison upheld by an appellate court.
According to the court Friday, the Seoul High Court’s Criminal Division 10-1, presided over by Judge Lee Sang-ho, upheld the original ruling and sentenced a woman in her 30s, to seven years in prison on charges of blackmail under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. The court also ordered the confiscation of her cellphone and smartphone, which were used in the crime.
The woman was indicted and detained for blackmailing Kim over a four-year period, from September 2020 to October 2024, extorting a total of 840 million won (about $610,000). Investigators said she recorded private conversations with Kim and threatened to leak them on social media.
The lower court had sentenced the woman to seven years in prison in February, saying, “The defendant exploited the victim’s weaknesses and blackmailed him over a long period, taking a large sum of 800 million won. Considering the method, duration, and amount of damage, the crime is extremely grave.”
Both sides appealed the decision — the woman arguing the sentence was too harsh, and the prosecution calling for the confiscation of the phone containing the conversation files. The appellate court sided with the prosecution, saying, “If the seized items are returned to the defendant without confiscation, there is a risk of further harm,” and dismissed the woman’s appeal.