Lee Sun-kyun blackmailers get harsher sentences on appeal
Published: 16 Jul. 2025, 19:05
![A former actor who blackmailed late actor Lee Sun-kyun enters the Incheon District Court on Dec. 28, 2023. [NEWS1]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/07/16/99f779d0-7c86-4b82-8aea-5f124e7b79a1.jpg)
A former actor who blackmailed late actor Lee Sun-kyun enters the Incheon District Court on Dec. 28, 2023. [NEWS1]
A hostess bar manager and a former actor received significantly harsher sentences on appeal for blackmailing the late actor Lee Sun-kyun and extorting more than 300 million won ($216,000) from him.
The Incheon District Court on Wednesday sentenced the 31-year-old bar manager to five years and six months in prison, almost double the original sentence of three years and six months.
She had been released on bail on June 26, but was immediately taken into custody after the appeals court delivered its ruling.
The same court also overturned the lower court’s ruling for a 30-year-old former actor facing the same charges and sentenced her to six years and six months in prison, up from the previous four years and two months.
“The defendant [bar manager] exploited Lee’s trust and carried out a vile act of blackmail that went beyond mere threats,” the judge said, adding that it was questionable whether the defendant was genuinely remorseful after being released on bail.
“The defendant cannot deny her role in contributing to Lee’s death, and the family continues to suffer from severe emotional pain,” the court said. “The damage has not been compensated, and the defendant's behavior after release casts doubt on the sincerity of her remorse.”
![Actor Lee Sun-kyun's funeral altar is set up at the Seoul National University Hospital's funeral home in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Dec. 27, 2023. [NEWS1]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/07/16/a748b6bd-6cf5-477b-8296-44c34d49f389.jpg)
Actor Lee Sun-kyun's funeral altar is set up at the Seoul National University Hospital's funeral home in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Dec. 27, 2023. [NEWS1]
The judge also called the former actor’s actions “an evil crime carried out without regard for means or consequences, leveraging Lee’s celebrity status and private life.” The court added that the defendant caused Lee “extreme fear that led to his tragic choice,” and noted the former actor had reoffended despite a prior fraud conviction, demonstrating “a lack of respect for the law."
The bar manager was indicted for calling Lee in September 2023 and claiming her phone had been hacked, coercing Lee to pay over 300 million won to silence the supposed blackmailer.
The two defendants, who lived in the same apartment complex and were close acquaintances, were found to have collaborated in the scheme. The former actor posed as a hacker by using illegally obtained SIM cards, and later personally extorted 50 million won from Lee in October 2023 when the bar manager refused to pay her.
The bar manager, who has six prior convictions including drug offenses, was previously sentenced to one year in prison in October 2024 for obtaining and using ketamine and methamphetamine on three occasions from December 2022 to August 2024.
Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY PARK JONG-SUH [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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