A former actress and bar staffer has been sentenced to prison after extorting up to 350 million won from the late actor Lee Sun-kyun. As reported by the Korea JoongAng Daily, the 30-year-old waitress with the surname Kim was sentenced by the Incheon District Court on December 19, 2024 to 3.5 years in prison for being proven to have committed extortion.
On the other hand, a 29-year-old former actress surnamed Park was also sentenced to four years and two months in prison for the same charges. She was found guilty of extorting 50 million won from Lee Sun-kyun. Kim was arrested in January 2024, on suspicion of blackmailing Lee Sun-kyun and extorting 300 million won by claiming his phone had been hacked.
He demanded hush money from the actor and threatened to leak information. Investigators later discovered the alleged hacker was an acquaintance of Kim's, actress Park, who lived in the same apartment complex. Park disguises himself as a hacker to extort money from Kim by claiming to have evidence of her drug use and relationship with Lee Sun-kyun.
When Park fails to extort money from Kim, he immediately targets Lee Sun-kyun and gets 50 million won. The legendary actor, whose name is known for playing in the film Parasite (2019), died by suicide in December 2023, while the investigation process was ongoing.
According to police, Lee Sun-kyun was found dead inside a car parked at Waryong Park in northern Jongno-gu, Seoul, days after his third police investigation on suspicion of illegal drug use. During the trial in November 2024, prosecutors had asked for seven-year prison sentences for Kim and Park.
"As a result of the bartender's actions, the court sees that Lee Sun-kyun must have suffered severe fear and mental illness," the prosecutor said at the trial at the time. "The former actress also directly threatened the victim which further exacerbated her emotional suffering."
"While other factors may have been a cause (of Lee's emotional suffering), it cannot be denied that the defendant's blackmail contributed to his death." The court reported that the sentencing decision for the two defendants also took into account the fact that the barmaid had been threatened by the former actress who had to support a child.
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