Man punished for blackmailing singer

Song Dae-kwan

A man who blackmailed trot singer Song Dae-kwan has received a suspended sentence.

Seoul Central District Court on Friday handed the man, surname Hong, 75, six months’ jail, suspended for a year, according to Newsis.

The court was told Hong threatened Song from 2009 until last February, urging him to repay money owed to his former wife by Song’s wife. Hong threatened to tell people Hong had swindled him through a real estate investment fraud. Hong took 27 million won ($22,000) from Song during the period, the court was told.

The court said Hong used Song’s celebrity status to get money from him, although the star was not involved in the real estate investment.

In 2009, Hong’s former wife invested with Song’s wife, who said she was selling lots in a resort she was going to build on land in Boryeong, South Chungcheong Province. Hong’s former wife handed Song’s wife 100 billion won ($83,000). The resort business was later canceled.

The court was told that Hong kept visiting Song’s home, threatening to defame him unless he repaid the money.

Song and his wife were indicted in 2009 on a separate charge of swindling a Korean couple from Canada with a real estate investment fraud and taking 414 million won ($345,000) from them. In October 2014, Song’s wife was sentenced to two years’ jail. Song, who appealed to the Supreme Court, was acquitted last November.