Car rental supplier gets suspended term for blackmailing K-pop star over dashcam footage: report

A car rental owner who blackmailed a female K-pop star with a dashcam footage that showed her being affectionate with another K-pop star, was reportedly sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for two years.

Incheon District Court found the defendant guilty of extortion, according to local media reports on Sunday. The victim rented a van from the defendant's company in February, and was filmed by the dashcam being affectionate with a male K-pop star in the back of the van.

The defendant sent a text message saying, "What did you do in the back of the car? Isn't that too much?" and asked for half of the car's price, which was 47 million won ($33,000). The defendant contacted the victim multiple times and demanded payment, and the victim eventually gave 9.79 million won to the defendant.

Extortion is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, or a 20 million won fine.

The court said it handed the defendant the relatively lenient punishment, taking into consideration the fact that the defendant paid most of the proceeds of the crime back to the victim.

The fact that the defendant admitted the charges and showed remorse had also been taken into consideration.