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YouTubers who claimed Jeju Air crash was fake sentenced to prison

Published: 20 Aug. 2025, 17:01

The wreckage of a Boeing 737-800 plane operated by Jeju Air lies at Muan International Airport in Muan, South Jeolla on Dec. 31. [AP/YONHAP]

Two YouTubers who claimed last year's Jeju Air crash at Muan Airport in South Jeolla was staged using computer graphics were sentenced to prison on Wednesday for defamation and spreading false information.

The conspiracy centered on the crash of a Jeju Air flight on Dec. 29, 2024, when a passenger jet veered off the runway and struck a structure, killing 179 of the 181 people on board.

The Busan District Court sentenced a 60-year-old defendant to three years in prison and a 71-year-old defendant to one year. The 71-year-old, who had been on trial without detention, was taken into custody following the verdict.

“Their actions were egregious,” the court said. “They fabricated false videos about a tragic accident in pursuit of personal gain and distributed them on publicly accessible channels. The victims suffered considerable psychological harm and have not forgiven them.

“The two men continue to insist that their conspiracy theories are true and show no remorse. They have also lashed out at investigators and the government throughout the proceedings.”

From December 2024 to January 2025, the two defendants uploaded roughly 100 videos with titles like “Analysis of Muan Airport Aircraft Incident Footage” (translated) and said that the plane crash never happened and that the crash footage was "computer graphics."

A grieving family member bows his head in sorrow at the departure hall of Muan International Airport in South Jeolla on Dec. 30, the day after a Jeju Air passenger jet crashed. [NEWS1]

They also reportedly said that “the bereaved families were professional actors who had appeared in previous national tragedies such as the Sewol ferry disaster and the Itaewon crowd crush."

When YouTube shut down their accounts following reports from viewers, the defendants created new channels to continue uploading similar content.

The 60-year-old previously served 18 months in prison after the Supreme Court in 2018 found them guilty of defamation for spreading the false claim that the Sewol ferry disaster was a massacre orchestrated by the government and the Korea Coast Guard. The Sewol Ferry sank in April 2016, resulting in 304 deaths, including 250 students from Danwon High School.

In the latest case, the defendant evaded a court summons for a pretrial detention hearing and went into hiding until police arrested him in Seoul in February. Prosecutors indicted and detained him in March.

Prosecutors noted that under newly revised prosecutorial guidelines in effect since May, cyber defamation and online insult cases involving severe reputational damage or financial motives will face tougher penalties.

Prosecutors also plan to trace and preserve criminal proceeds for confiscation, and to support efforts to recover damages through lawsuits filed by victims.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY LEE EUN-JI [[email protected]]