Former executives of Namyang Dairy Products who announced that the dairy product Bulgari has a COVID-19 suppression effect without reasonable evidence were sentenced to fines in the first trial.
On the morning of the 7th, Judge Park So-jung of the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 2 sentenced former Namyang Dairy Products CEO Lee Kwang-beom and former Head of the Antiviral Immunology Research Institute Park Jong-su to fines of 20 million won each for violating the Food Labeling and Advertising Act. Two other former executives who were also indicted were each fined 10 million won. The Namyang Dairy Products corporation was fined 50 million won.
The court stated, "At that time, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Korea was about 120,000, with daily cases exceeding 600 and increasing. Due to concerns about side effects, vaccination was being avoided, and the entire nation was under physical threat from COVID-19. In this situation, advertising that Bulgari products were effective against COVID-19 makes the defendants' guilt serious," and reprimanded them.
The court also pointed out, "The defendants used the media to have articles published about Bulgari's antiviral effects but did not properly verify this and instead blamed the media for reporting it, denying their charges. This shows unfavorable circumstances after the crime."
However, the court explained the sentencing reasons, saying, "Although Namyang Dairy Products' sales temporarily increased immediately after the crime, they were promptly reported, and the company's image was rather damaged by negative public opinion. Also, former CEO Lee and former Research Institute Head Park resigned from Namyang Dairy Products after working there for a long time, and the company received a two-month business suspension and corrective orders."
They are accused of advertising Bulgari products as being effective in preventing and treating diseases such as COVID-19 through academic symposiums attended by reporters in April 2021.
Namyang Dairy Products announced at the 'Development of Antiviral Foods in the COVID-19 Era' symposium that Bulgari products reduced COVID-19 by 77.8% and distributed related materials.
However, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency stated that Namyang Dairy Products' experiment was not a human subject study, making it difficult to expect such effects, and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety reported Namyang Dairy Products to investigative authorities. As the controversy grew, former Namyang Dairy Products Chairman Hong Won-sik issued a public apology, and former CEO Lee stepped down from his position.
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