Top court upholds prison sentence for footballer Hwang Ui-jo's sister-in-law for leaking sex tapes

The Supreme Court has upheld a lower court’s sentence of three years in prison for the sister-in-law of football star Hwang Ui-jo for leaking the player’s sex tapes and blackmail.

Hwang Ui-jo at Incheon International Airport in November [NEWS1]

The Supreme Court has upheld a lower court’s sentence of three years in prison for the sister-in-law of football star Hwang Ui-jo for leaking the player’s sex tapes and blackmail.

According to the legal community on Wednesday, the Supreme Court last Friday found Lee, 33, sister-in-law of Hwang, guilty on charges of violating the Act on Special Cases concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes.

Lee was convicted of circulating video clips on Instagram in June of last year, which showed Hwang’s sexual encounters with women. She was also accused of threatening Hwang by sending messages like, “It will be fun if the video gets leaked.”

Both local district and appellate courts sentenced Lee to three years of imprisonment.

During the proceedings at the Seoul Central District Court, Lee confessed in a handwritten apology that she leaked Hwang’s personal videos to seek revenge, citing that she wanted to “teach him a lesson.”

Although Lee paid victims of the leakage 20 million won ($14,935) a day before the first ruling, the judiciary did not acknowledge the action during sentencing.

Hwang was also referred to trial without detention on charges of filming the sexual encounter without the partners’ consent four times between June and September 2022. Hwang’s first trial is set to be held at Seoul Central District Court on Oct. 16.

Hwang is currently playing for Turkish team Alanyaspor.

BY LEE SOO-JUNG [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]