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'Apgujeong Box Girl' handed suspended sentence for adult content studio stunt

Published: 17 Sep. 2025, 16:32

A woman walks through the streets of Apgujeong in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, wearing only a box and urging passersby to touch her body in October 2023. She also staged the same stunt in the Hongdae neighborhood of Mapo District, western Seoul. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

A woman who staged a stunt in which she wore only a cardboard box with holes on the sides and encouraged strangers to touch her body was handed a suspended prison sentence by an appellate court.

The Seoul Central District Court’s Criminal Appeals Division sentenced the woman, identified only by her surname Lee, to eight months in prison with a two-year suspension on Wednesday. The court also ordered her to complete 40 hours of sexual offense prevention classes.

Adult performer who walked the streets wearing only a box remains defiant

A lower court had earlier fined Lee 4 million won ($2,900), but the appellate court imposed a prison sentence, raising the level of punishment.

Two executives from the adult content production company that organized the stunt also received heavier sentences. The court handed them prison terms of 10 months and one year, each suspended for two years, overturning their original fines of 5 million won and 4 million won.

"The prosecution appealed on the grounds that the punishment was too light, and the defendant must have known this," the presiding judges said. "The case was covered in the media and caused public controversy, so we found the lower court’s sentence to be lenient and decided to hand down a new sentence."

Prosecutors charged Lee and the others with public indecency in October 2023 by encouraging passersby to touch her chest while she was naked inside a box in busy areas in Seoul including Apgujeong in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, and Hongdae in Mapo District, western Seoul.

They filmed the incident and posted it on social media, leading online users to nickname her “Apgujeong Box Girl.”

Lee is also on trial in a separate case at the Seoul Central District Court for allegedly purchasing ketamine, a controlled substance.

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 HYEON YE-SEUL [[email protected]]