Son Heung-min's blackmailer gets 4 years in prison

A woman surnamed Yang received a four-year prison sentence from a Seoul court on Monday for extorting Los Angeles FC forward Son Heung-min by falsely claiming she became pregnant with his child.

A woman surnamed Yang facing blackmail charges for trying to extort money from Son Heung-min, left, and a man surnamed Yong appear for a pretrial detention hearing at the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul on May 17. [NEWS1]

A woman surnamed Yang received a four-year prison sentence from a Seoul court on Monday for extorting Los Angeles FC forward Son Heung-min by falsely claiming she became pregnant with his child.

The Seoul Central District Court handed down the sentence for Yang for blackmail and attempted blackmail, and sentenced a man surnamed Yong to two years in prison for attempted blackmail.

Prosecutors demanded a five-year sentence for Yang and a two-year sentence for Yong during a sentencing hearing on Nov. 27.

“Yang insists she received the money as compensation and portrays herself as a victim,” prosecutors said on Monday. “But her claims do not fully match the facts. She planned the crime thoroughly, the case carries significant gravity and the victim likely suffered considerable psychological harm."

Prosecutors also assessed Yong’s role.

“He threatened the victim on 15 occasions to obtain money, which makes the crime especially serious,” they said. “But he confessed to all charges and cooperated during the investigation, which the court should consider.”

Yang contacted Son in June of last year and sent him an ultrasound image while claiming she was pregnant. She threatened to reveal the alleged pregnancy and took 300 million won ($205,000) from him. Investigators found that she had earlier attempted to extort another man by telling him she was pregnant, but she dropped the effort after he did not respond.

Prosecutors said Yang then repeated the scheme with Son by falsely claiming that she was pregnant and demanding money. She later spent the 300 million won on luxury goods and personal expenses.

After she used up the money and faced financial difficulties, the pair tried to extort an additional 70 million won from the footballer between March and May by threatening to disclose claims about pregnancy and abortion to the media and to Son’s family. They failed to obtain the money.

Prosecutors indicted the pair in June, and Son appeared in court as a witness on Nov. 19.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom. BY CHO MUN-GYU,KIM SEONG-JIN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]