By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
Actor Lee Chan, who was indicted on charges of assault against his former spouse, was sentenced Friday to do community service instead of being put behind bars.
The Seoul Central District Court gave the actor a two-year suspended jail term and ordered him to do 240 hours of social service.
In the ruling, the presiding judge said there was enough evidence to convict him. ``It is also accepted that his violent behavior caused the breakup of the marriage and inflicted physical and mental injury on his former wife Lee Min-young.''
According to the investigation, Lee beat his wife up several times, even while she was pregnant.
``We decided to order him to do community service instead of imprisonment,'' the court said, ``because he had no similar criminal record, confessed what he had done and the violence was unpremeditated and took place during altercations between the two.''
The disgraced male celebrity will be obliged to perform several social service programs at welfare facilities under court-led surveillance.
The two tied the knot in December last year but they only stayed together for 12 days. The actress made the charges against her former husband early this year, alleging her spouse beat and kicked her severely while in a car, resulting in miscarriage, a broken nose and severe bruising.