Suzy ordered to pay up over false accusation in YouTube scandal

Singer-actress Suzy will have to pay damages for her wrong accusation. Korea Times file

By Dong Sun-hwa

Singer-actress Suzy and two defendants were ordered to pay compensation to a photo studio for wrongly accusing it of sexual harassment against a YouTube star.

“Three defendants should jointly pay 20 million won ($17,000) to Once Picture Studio,” ruled Judge Ban Hyo-rim of the Seoul Southern District Court, Thursday. But the compensation claim against the government was dropped.

In May 2018, Yang Ye-won, a YouTube celebrity who runs popular channel “Beagle Couple,” insisted she was sexually harassed and forced into nude photos while working as a fitting model in 2015.

After her claim went public, two defendants staged national petitions calling for the punishment of Once Picture Studio, which was misidentified as the studio Yang had mentioned. As support, Suzy posted a screen grab of the petitions on her Instagram.

Once Picture Studio's CEO filed a complaint against the trio in June 2018, seeking 100 million won ($84,000) compensation for the damage it claimed it suffered owing to the false allegation.

“I could not run the studio properly for several months due to the wrong fact,” the CEO was quoted as saying.