Prosecution Requests 4-Year Prison Sentence for Gujeokyeok on 'Tzyang Extortion and Threat Charges'

"Meticulously Planned the Crime to Satisfy Selfish Desires"
Guje-yeok: "There Were No Threatening Remarks"
"I Will Strive to Compensate the Victim Out of Guilt"

The prosecution has requested a 4-year prison sentence for Guje-yeok (real name Lee Jun-hee), who was indicted on charges of threatening mukbang YouTuber Jjuyang (real name Park Jung-won) and extorting tens of millions of won.

On the 10th, at the Suwon District Court Criminal Division 14 (Judge Park Yi-rang) hearing for Guje-yeok on charges including blackmail, the prosecution asked the court to sentence him to 4 years in prison. The prosecution explained, "The defendant opportunistically took advantage of knowing someone else's weakness to satisfy his selfish desires by meticulously planning the crime. In an ecosystem where subscriber growth directly translates to profit, he competitively produced provocative content to increase subscribers and views, and used his fame to threaten to expose a specific person's secrets to extort money."

YouTuber Gujeokyeok (real name Lee Junhee) is entering the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office to attend a pre-arrest suspect hearing (warrant review) held at the Suwon District Court in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do on the morning of July 26 last year. Photo by Yonhap News

In his final defense, Guje-yeok denied the allegations of monetary demands and threats. His lawyer stated, "The victim claims that all the (victim's private life-related) materials delivered to the defendant by Mr. A, Jjuyang's ex-boyfriend and former agency representative, are false, but it is questionable how false information can be used as a means of blackmail. The money the defendant received from the victim's company was the result of an agreement as compensation for managing other YouTubers who know the victim's private life, and there were no threatening remarks during this process."

He added, "The evidence in this case is a recorded file stored on the defendant's mobile phone submitted by an acquaintance who harbors ill feelings toward the defendant. This is illegally obtained evidence collected without following constitutional and criminal procedure laws, and secondary evidence based on this cannot be used as proof of guilt."

In his final statement, Guje-yeok said, "The acquaintance borrowed my phone saying 'I am at risk of being arrested, so please lend me some coins,' then forensically examined all deleted data and backed up the recorded files related to this case, submitting them to the prosecution and others. I was robbed of my phone by a fraudster, which led to the current situation and the victim's private life being exposed." He continued, "However, I want to directly apologize for the pain caused to the victim due to my mistake. I will carry lifelong guilt toward the victim and make every effort to compensate for the damage."

Also, Jujak Gambyeolsa (real name Jeon Guk-jin), who was tried alongside Guje-yeok, was sentenced to 3 years in prison. Karakula (real name Lee Se-wook) and Crocodile (real name Choi Il-hwan), charged with aiding blackmail, were each sentenced to 2 years in prison. Attorney Choi, who is accused of threatening Jjuyang, was sentenced to 5 years in prison. The first trial verdict is scheduled for the 20th.