[Exclusive] YouTuber Lawyer Son Young-seo Fighting Plastic Surgery Clinics Sentenced to Prison for Posting 'Operating Room Recording'

A practicing lawyer who runs a YouTube channel under the theme of "teaching how to fight against plastic surgery clinics" was sentenced to prison after posting an illegally recorded operating room audio file, recorded by a client, on YouTube.

In a trial conducted as a citizen participation trial, the lawyer claimed it was a justifiable act for public interest, but the jury unanimously found him guilty. The court judged that it appeared to be a means to pressure the hospital to pay a settlement to the client or to promote himself as a lawyer in relation to the cases he was handling.

Screenshot of a video from the YouTube channel operated by lawyer Son Young-seo.

According to the legal community on the 1st, the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 30 (Presiding Judge Kang Durye) sentenced lawyer Son Young-seo (39, 4th bar exam) to one year in prison and two years of disbarment on the 26th of last month for violating the Act on the Protection of Communications Secrets. Son’s client Kim (41), who was also indicted, was sentenced to six months in prison with a one-year probation and one year of disbarment.

Son was charged with receiving an audio file secretly recorded by Kim during surgery at a plastic surgery clinic in Gangnam, Seoul, capturing conversations between the surgeon and nurses, and then extracting parts of it to publicly disclose on his YouTube channel on April 1 of last year.

According to the prosecution’s charges, Son divided the received audio file into three parts and posted a video titled “[Including audio recording evidence] Shocking #PlasticSurgery #ProxySurgery #GhostSurgery Exposing the operating room scene” along with screenshots of parts of the plastic surgery clinic’s homepage where Kim had surgery.

Additionally, on the same day, Son posted on Naver Cafes such as 'Beauty Youya', 'People with Heartache', 'Powder Room', and the plastic surgery app 'Babilok' a post titled “[I brought a recorder into the operating room] Exposing proxy surgery at a Gangnam plastic surgery clinic” using an ID from his law office, pretending to be Kim, the proxy surgery victim. The post included the URL link to the YouTube video and also hinted at the name of the plastic surgery clinic using initial consonants.

In the citizen participation trial, all seven jurors found him guilty. Regarding sentencing, two jurors recommended “one year imprisonment and three years disbarment,” four jurors recommended “one year imprisonment and two years disbarment,” totaling six jurors favoring imprisonment. The remaining juror suggested “one year imprisonment with two years probation and three years disbarment.”

The court stated, “The defendant obtained an audio file of conversations between others that were not publicly disclosed from the client and disclosed the contents without the victims’ consent. Considering the circumstances and content of the crime, and the need to protect privacy and freedom of communication, the nature and circumstances of the crime are serious.”

Furthermore, the court noted, “Especially, despite being a legal professional with lawyer qualifications, the defendant committed the crime without following due process, pressuring the victims and using it for his own business promotion. After the crime, he even held a one-person protest in front of the plastic surgery clinic operated by the victim with a placard containing the URL of the YouTube video with the disclosed conversation. There is no substantial reason to justify such a protest, and considering the circumstances after the crime, the blameworthiness is even greater.”

The court added, “Although the victims likely suffered significant financial and psychological damage, the defendant took no measures to restore the damage and did not receive forgiveness from the victims. The defendant repeatedly stated in court that he does not regret committing the crime and would do the same again if given the chance. Considering these factors, the risk of recidivism appears high.”

Kim secretly recorded the surgery situation during a revision rhinoplasty in June 2021. While reviewing the recording after surgery, Kim discovered that a different attending physician participated in the surgery besides the originally scheduled surgeon, suspected proxy surgery, and filed a complaint. However, the case was dismissed, and Kim appointed lawyer Son as his representative.

In court, Kim argued that the recorded conversation was a self-help measure against plastic surgery side effects or proxy surgery, but this was not accepted. Lawyer Son also claimed that he committed the act out of a belief that the proxy surgery needed to be exposed after listening to the recording, but the court stated, “After playing the recording in court, it was found that the content alone did not confirm that the victims performed proxy surgery.”

The court further stated, “The act of disclosure appears to have been a means to pressure the victims, who are the opposing parties in the cases Son was handling, to pay settlements to client Kim or to promote himself as a lawyer.”

It continued, “In fact, many patients who claimed to have suffered side effects from surgery at the hospital after watching the video sought consultations or entrusted cases to the defendant, and recently, the defendant appears to have received settlements from the hospital after taking on cases. The motivation or purpose of the act is not recognized as justifiable.” The court rejected the claim of justifiable conduct.

Park Jin-sik, a lawyer from the law firm Between representing the complainants, said, “Lawyer Son advertises and promotes himself on YouTube as defending victims of plastic surgery by citing his brief experience as an in-house lawyer at a plastic surgery clinic, but his methods are excessively low and crude. He advises victims to always call the police when going to get medical certificates and to harass the clinic’s business through comments and posts. If a settlement is not reached, he even encourages protests.”

He added, “In this case as well, posting the video and holding protests appear to have been intended to pressure the hospital to pay settlements or to withdraw criminal complaints filed against his own criminal case.”

Lawyer Son was selected as an outstanding lawyer by the Korean Bar Association in 2021.