Police conclude Nana acted in self-defense during home invasion, drop charges

Police have dropped attempted murder and aggravated assault allegations against actor Nana after concluding she acted in self-defense during a home invasion, authorities said on Friday.

Actor Nana looks at the crowd at a press conference for the movie ″Omniscient Reader: The Prophet″ (2025) at Coex in southern Seoul on July 15, 2025. [NEWS1]

Police have dropped attempted murder and aggravated assault allegations against actor Nana after concluding she acted in self-defense during a home invasion, authorities said on Friday.

The Guri Police Precinct said it recently decided not to forward the case to prosecutors after reviewing a complaint filed by the suspect in the home robbery case and related evidence.

The suspect had filed a complaint from a detention center last December, claiming he was "injured by a weapon used by Nana.”

Police said they formally booked Nana as a suspect as part of standard procedure and questioned her during the investigation. Nana, whose real name is Im Jin-ah, is a former member of the girl group After School.

The man is under arrest and has been sent to prosecutors on robbery charges. Police said he broke into Nana’s home in Achon-dong, Guri, at around 6 a.m. on Nov. 15 last year while carrying a bladed weapon.

Investigators said the man used a ladder to climb the building, entered through an unlocked balcony door and threatened Nana and her mother, demanding money after assaulting them.

The man reportedly attacked Nana’s mother by choking her. Nana woke up after hearing her mother’s screams and tried to stop the assault, leading to a physical struggle. During the altercation, the man sustained a cut to his jaw from the weapon, according to investigators.

Police said they had already judged Nana’s actions to be self-defense when they initially sent the man’s case to prosecutors under detention.

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 KIM JI-HYE [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]