A Korean court has sentenced a man to one year in prison for posting over 565 insulting messages about actress Kim Gyu-ri (formerly known as Kim Min-sun) on a public internet forum — one of the most significant criminal sentences handed down in Korea for online harassment of a public figure. Here are the key points.

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What Happened

– An individual identified as Lee posted more than 565 abusive and insulting messages about Kim Gyu-ri on the public boards of online community site DC Inside over an extended period.
– Kim has been pursuing legal action against those who spread false information and abusive content about her online, and disclosed this verdict herself on social media on June 28, 2026.

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Court Decision

– The Daejeon District Court convicted Lee of criminal insult on June 22, 2026, and sentenced him to one year in prison — a custodial sentence, not a fine or suspended term.
– The court cited the extreme mental suffering inflicted on Kim as a key factor in imposing a custodial rather than non-custodial sentence.
– The volume and duration of the campaign — 565 or more posts — appears to have been central to the court’s assessment of the severity of the conduct.

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Kim’s Response

– Kim posted news of the verdict on her own social media with a pointed message directed at future harassers: “I’m letting people who want to come into someone else’s room and throw filth know in advance.”
– Her public disclosure of the verdict was widely read as a deliberate deterrence signal — making clear that legal action will continue and that custodial sentences are now a realistic outcome.

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Key Takeaways

– Criminal insult in Korea is not merely a civil matter. Where the volume, duration, and content of online abuse is sufficiently serious, courts will impose custodial sentences.
– The number of posts matters: 565 separate insulting messages, sustained over a long period, crosses well beyond the threshold of isolated or impulsive conduct into deliberate, targeted harassment warranting imprisonment.
– Public figures in Korea are not without recourse against online abuse — and courts are increasingly treating sustained online harassment campaigns as serious criminal conduct deserving real punishment.
– Disclosing verdicts publicly, as Kim did here, has become a recognized deterrence strategy among Korean public figures pursuing online harassment cases.

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Why This Matters

Korea has long struggled with the culture of anonymous online abuse directed at public figures, particularly in the entertainment industry. This sentence — actual imprisonment rather than the fines that typically result from insult convictions — signals that courts are prepared to treat sustained, high-volume harassment as something qualitatively different from ordinary online rudeness. For practitioners advising clients on online defamation and insult cases, the ruling underscores that volume and duration of conduct are significant sentencing aggravators, and that the criminal insult framework can reach custodial outcomes where the harm inflicted is severe and the campaign sustained.

Article: https://m.edaily.co.kr/News/Read?mediaCodeNo=257&newsId=01351366645486312&utm_source=