Two men fined for illegally collecting personal information of NCT and EXO members

Two men who illegally collected personal information from NCT and EXO members have been sued by SM Entertainment and fined, according to a statement by the agency on Wednesday.

Boy band EXO [SM ENTERTAINMENT]

Two men who illegally collected personal information from NCT and EXO members have been sued by SM Entertainment and fined, according to a statement by the agency on Wednesday.

The defendants, who have only been identified by their surnames, Park and Kim, requested leniency in court, stating they committed the crime due to their admiration for the artists. The fines were still imposed, said SM Entertainment.

Park and Kim pretended to be delivery drivers in a live stream voice chat on social media platform X, contacting the artists and illegally collecting their addresses and other information in April 2023.

SM said that it “collected evidence” against Park and Kim “through fan reports and its own investigations” and filed the information to the police through its legal attorney at Shin & Kim.

Judge Lee Ho-dong of the Seoul Eastern District Court sentenced the two men to fines of 3 million won ($2,170) each on July 3, for violating the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection.

The victims include three members of boy band NCT and one member of boy band EXO. The names of the victims have not been disclosed as of Thursday.

SM Entertainment said it is "monitoring actions that infringe on the rights and dignity of the artists" and is taking legal action "with a principle of zero tolerance" to protect its artists in its statement.

The agency said that artists are being harassed by fans who "illegally obtain their phone numbers or home addresses and make calls or visit them," resulting in "serious mental pain."

"Please immediately cease actions that invade the privacy of the artists and be careful not to get involved in any unpleasant incidents," said SM Entertainment.

BY KIM MIN-YOUNG [kim.minyoung5@joongang.co.kr]