An owner of a rent-a-car business identified as A was handed a suspended prison term for blackmail, the Incheon District Court announced on the 18th. Judge Gong Woo-jin of Criminal Division 14 sentenced A to eight months in prison, suspended for two years, along with 120 hours of community service.

Prosecutors said that A retrieved a vehicle last year after a female idol group member returned the rental. After inspecting the dash-cam footage, he learned that the idol member had shown skinship with a member of another boy group. He then threatened her with the question, “What did you do in the back seat?” He even referenced the other male idol’s group name and told her that “if you don’t admit it, there’s nothing we can do on our side,” demanding half of the car’s purchase price, 47 million won. Yet even after receiving money, he continued to threaten that he would disclose the skinship.

The court noted that about 9.79 million won paid by the victim under the threat had been returned, but explained that A committed the offense during the period of probation. In deciding the sentence, the presiding judge cited the severity of the blackmail and the extorted amount as key factors.