Recent reports have confirmed that the ethnic Koreans who were convicted of hacking eight celebrity phones have filed an appeal to their case. The news follows reports of their conviction back on September 24th of this year, in charges relating to a scandal from late last year and early this year that involved blackmail threats against the afflicted celebrities. The extortion attempt resulted in payments being made in the value of approximately five hundred thousand dollars.
The defendants acknowledged the charges against them at trial and claimed to have reflected on their poor behavior. Their sentences ranged from twenty months to five years between four adults consisting of two sisters and their husbands. The monetary payments came from only five of the celebrities, with Joo Jin-mo's hacking being used as proof of concept and Ha Jung-woo deciding to go to the police. The names of the other afflicted celebrities have not been released to the public.
Written by William Schwartz
Staff writer. Has been writing articles for HanCinema since 2012, having lived in South Korea since 2011. Started out in Gyeongju, then to Daegu, then to Ansan, then to Yeongju, then to Seoul, lived on the road for HanCinema's travel diaries series in the summer of 2016, and is currently settled in Anyang. Has good tips for utilizing South Korea's public bus system. William Schwartz can be contacted via william@hancinema.net. He also has a substack at williamschwartz.substack.com where he discusses the South Korean film industry in broader terms and takes suggestions for future movies to review.
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