Lady justice has spoken, or perhaps she’s long dead and buried, as the Lee Byung Hun getting blackmailed trial comes to an end today in a South Korean courtroom as the two blackmailing ladies got handed down their sentences. Model Lee Ji Yeon got slapped with a year and two months in the slammer while her accomplice/co-defendant Dahee of GLAM got a slighter shorter sentence of one year in jail. The court sentenced the two ladies after they admitted to blackmailing Lee Byung Hun by threatening to released a tawdry conversation they recorded and then asked the court for leniency.
The defendants raised mitigating circumstances claiming the blackmail was in retaliation for Lee Byung Hun’s making a play for Lee Ji Yeon and then dumping her. The court didn’t buy that explanation since there was no evidence that Lee Byung Hun had an affair with Lee Ji Yeon so the blackmail was chalked up to pure financial gain. It’s unclear if the sentences will include time served as the two have been in custody since their August arrest last year. With the twin dangers to society safely behind bars, Lee Byung Hun can rest assured that all he’ll have to deal with is public scorn and shame as Dispatch recently released the purported contents of some of his text messages with Lee Ji Yeon.
LBH: What’s for dinner?
LJY: What do you like?
LBH: You.
LBH: Is it going to be romantic tomorrow?
LJY: Perhaps.
LJY: Are you still filming???
LBH: Why not?
LBH: It must be nice to be able to choose.
LBH: We’re seeing each other tomorrow, right?
LBH: Will it be romantic?
LJY: We’ll see how you do.
LBH: I’ll be good.
LJY: This is a brain map.
LBH: There’s tomorrow, you, romantic, and success in my head.
LJY: What do you mean by success?
LBH: It means whether or not I’ll succeed in romance
LJY: Did you know it’s my birthday this week?
LBH: Then we’ll celebrate tomorrow together.
LBH: I hope you’ll keep this secret.
LJY: Don’t worry.
LBH: I’m really looking forward to this.
LBH: When can I see you tomorrow?
LJY: My mom’s coming.
LBH: Is your friend there today?
LJY: Yes.
LBH: When are you free today and tomorrow?
LJY: I have to go to cram school today.
LBH: When will your friend not be there?
LBH: I stepped out of line today. I’m sorry…
LBH: I think we should stop seeing each other. We’ll only hurt each other.
LJY: You’re cutting off contact just like this, huh?
Y’all can comment/vent/rage to your heart’s content over two female blackmailers getting jail time while male domestic abusers/hit-and-run perps/drug users/[name your crime] have been comparatively getting off with a slap on the wrist in South Korea. Justice in South Korea tastes just a drink made with the tears of gender and power inequality. Don’t get me wrong, blackmail is clearly wrong and against the law, I’m just sighing over the sad reality that being a sleazy douchebag is merely wrong but not against the law. In this particular case, for those wondering why nothing happened to Lee Byung Hun, if the worst thing he did is cheat on his wife, adultery is a civil offense that only the spouse can bring charges against and it certainly does not appear that Mrs. Lee Byung Hun is doing that anytime soon (if ever).
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Sadly, this is a very expected outcome. I will never be able to understand how one of the most developed and richest countries in the world can have such a currupt and dates judiciary.
*corrupt and dated
I feel bad for those two girls. The idol especially was apparently in a lot of debt from her debut. One thing I am curious about is whether there is a difference in the sentences that male vs female perpetrators of crimes of similar magnitudes get. So a female drunk driver vs a male drunk driver, female murderer vs male murderer, etc. Maybe there's something a little bit more insidious going on here than plain old sexism like the power differential between the wealthy and poor (I don't often hear of poorer people pursuing prosecution for extortion).
This is the time where we need reporters like Choi Dal Po/Ki Ha Myung & In Ha in real life! Just like you said, blackmailers are wrong, but it's sad and scary that powerful-rich-evil people like LBH exists in this world. I just can't imagine what else he can do or been doing to other people *sigh*
if I may add...He's a f&*))@&$* Predator!!! Ugh, there's still so many things I want to say but since they're not good so I'll just keep quiet LOL :D
Both these ladies were adults and played along quite nicely with LBH until things went south... what is predatory about it? Sleazy, yes, but hardly predatory.
@Rina
my bad, I think you're right, I shouldn't have called him a predator but instead a psychopath...a sleazy psychopath :D
He's not a psychopath either. Just a disgusting man.
Men have been cheating on their wives since forever. Doesn't mean they are psychopaths
Where is the justice? Blackmailers get jailed while gf beater KHJ gets away scot free after breaking her ribs and she needed to be hospitalised? Just a simple apology and he got away? The last I heard was his ex was not pressing charges, what about the police? Isn't there proof enough that he beat her up. Shouldn't he at least be punished? He's even making a comeback soon. Unbelieveable!!
It's disgusting that Korean justice system lets rapists and domestic violence get away with their crimes.
Looks like justice just left, flew out and banned to come back in their country.
or maybe "Justice" is probably not even found in their vocabulary but instead "money" "power" "status" "men rules" were the only words that they can understand and abide to.
The fans is the most unbelieveable.
He is abusing someone and admitted to it! Caused physical injury. Aren't the prosecutor do something.
Talking about PUNCH here!
What really makes me ill is that right now Dramafever is doing some sort of popularity poll between Lee Min Ho and Kim Hyun Joong. It looks like it is 50-50, with lots of comments about how "cute" KHJ is. Fangirls are deaf and blind...or perhaps just not the sharpest knives in the drawer.
I don't know about disgusting, but certainly have different priorities from protecting your population from potential dangers.
Apparently, the results from being blackmailed are MORE serious than from being beaten black and blue with broken bones. Thank GOODNESS those two young ladies are IN JAIL because the world is so much safer now.
Meanwhile the admitted abuser gets to walk around in the world. Hopefully he/they can get help to prevent it in the future.
This wasn't justice in any way. If it were the girls would have had a lighter sentence and creepy Byung Hun would have also gotten a sentence for his adultery.
He'll screw some poor women over again and again and keep getting away with it.
In a way I understand the sentences, LBH followed through with pressing charges the women in the previous cases did not go through with it. However, they admitted to get lighter sentences and they get this much?
Also it feels like in Korea, there is pressure on women who sue the men, I don't know if it's vice versa or not, because LBH may be a special case. Powerful enough to not worry about his career when one of his scandals gets out.
Anyways the Justice system in S. Korean seems to be as corrupt as we see in dramas. If no one does something about it, the country with crumble.
Yeah, I agree. Of course blackmail should be punished but a year in prison!
For LBH this is just a sign that he can continue with what he's doing and then get away with it.
I'm getting more and more convinced that his marriage is a contract one, she gets status and become a A lister and he can continue to screw women over.
It seems so as some people have gotten away with murder and a wife who has to kill her husband in self defense as he's a violent drunk gets a long prison sentence.
Same here i find both sentences too harsh. And their careers have been destroyed and will come out to un unwelcoming society. Honestly that is punishment enough.
I don't know if his marriage is a contract or not, but i'm pretty sure that his wife would be too scared to go against him. She may have gained status with marriage but it can easily be taken away and her career destroyed by him.
Wow. You made it sound like he did all those other things too (abuse, drug addict, etc). Had to go back and re-read it, lol.
Anyways, yeah, having an alleged affair is not a felony, but blackmailing is. The girls were supposedly ready to leave the country and take off with the money, were they not?
People constantly throw themselves at celebs and celebs spends a lot of time with other celebs making films...so honestly, is anyone ever surprised when these celebs have affairs? I'm not saying what he did was right, but it's not surprising. And cmon, just because a celeb is married doesn't mean people are going to stop pining for them.
The justice system is messed up everywhere, everyone has their own idea of what is considered a worse offense than others. Inequality like this doesn't only happen in S. Korea, but everywhere. Look at the celebs and rich in the US, it's all basically the same. The bigger, richer person usually walks away with a slap while the poorer people with the same offense gets jail time.
For cases like these, people would just settle out of court to have it go away, but LBH decided not to and won...guess he'd rather pay his lawyers than the girls who were blackmailing him.
Nope he never gave the girls money.... The girls planned to leave the country after they realized they were getting sued!
I hope they release the whole video they used for blackmailing! I'm very disappointed in Lee Min Jung though wish she had more of a backbone! Though I feel like part of the reason why she's not doing anything is cause she's scared he'd ruin her career...
All of these scandals really remind me of "Broken" (Korean movie about a father who went on to murder the 2 boys who kidnapped, raped, and killed his only daughter) and how sad justice is. In the movie, the public and police saw the father as the criminal and the boys as victims. Truly a remarkable yet heartbreak film. Another film along the line is "Silenced" (aka "The Crucible") (based on a true story about a school of hearing-impaired students who are sexually and physically harassed by the teachers and superintended). Such a powerful yet heartbreak movie. I cried bucket of tears.
I really don't understand the system of justice in Korea. The police seems a little bit useless, prosecutor very powerful, and the sentences weird.
I agree they commited a crime but it was their first time...
Dear sugar daddies of SK: Be reassured, you're safe with us and can resume your activities aka sex for money.
I watched 2014 KBS drama awards and before giving Daesang, they showed clips of previous winners of last 10 years. The crowd cheered the most when LBH's clip from Iris came. I was expecting boos after all the hate he got from netizens in last few months. Totally unbelievable.
Rubbish, the girls too were clearly interested and encouraged him.
She knew he was married didn't she?
Both sugar daddy and the girl enjoying the gifts are to blame.
Let's not heap ALL the blame on the. Man here. This was clearly not a case where the girl was forced against her will. She encouraged his advances and then got mad when he broke it off and tried to Blackmail him? She's the one who committed the crime.
We're blaming him because that's all that we as the little people can do. The law system in Korea isn't going to protect the weak and marginalized. They won't hear our voices. But it gives hope to some that not everyone is blind to the faults of the legal system. There are people willing to voice their disagreement and be guided by their own moral compass. If you feel justice was meted out properly, then I congratulate you for living in a perfect world.
So what happened to the blackmail video? I woukd be so thrilled (not that I should be) if someone would post it up without getting jailed. Maybe some genius hacker like Ahjumma in Healer, lol. I wonder what's in the video that he bothered to charge them for blackmail.