Appellate Court Reduces 10-Year Prison Sentence to Suspended Term for Former Adult Photo Studio CEO

A former CEO of an adult photography studio, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in the first trial for sexually assaulting adult models, has received a suspended sentence in the second trial. On June 24, the Incheon Branch of the Seoul High Court sentenced the 51-year-old former CEO, identified as A, to two years and six months in prison, suspended for four years, on charges including indecent assault. Unlike the first trial, which found A guilty of all charges including indecent assault, the appellate court only upheld convictions for the production and possession of sexually explicit material. The court also overturned the original one-year prison sentence for the current CEO of the studio, a 47-year-old identified as B, and instead handed down a one-year prison sentence suspended for two years. The discrepancy between the first and second trials centered on the credibility of the testimonies provided by the adult models. The first trial court largely accepted the credibility of the models' statements. The first trial judges stated, "The testimonies are specific and include detailed descriptions of situations that would be difficult to recount without direct experience, and they remain consistent." The court also cited the fact that the models' accounts of A's methods of committing the crimes were largely consistent as a basis for the guilty verdict. In contrast, the second trial court ruled, "The fact that the models provided similar accounts of victimization does not automatically mean that the credibility of each statement can be accepted collectively." The court added, "There is a possibility of external intervention or mutual influence during the process of forming these statements." The two courts also differed in their assessment of whether a state of psychological dominance existed between A and the models. The first trial court determined that A was in a position to effectively control the income and popularity of the models under his supervision, citing a "director-protege relationship." Specifically, the court relied on testimonies from models who claimed that A would ask, "Do you want to terminate your contract?" whenever they refused to engage in sexual relations. However, the second trial court rejected the claim of psychological dominance, noting that some models had separate jobs or sources of income, that A and the models engaged in casual conversations in KakaoTalk chat rooms, and that some models were key personnel whom A could not easily mistreat. Both the prosecution and A have appealed the ruling. The presiding judge of the second trial, who granted the unusual reduction from a 10-year prison term to a suspended sentence, is Senior Judge Jung Seung-kyu. In 2023, he sparked controversy by reducing the sentences of two middle school students who live-streamed the sexual assault of a classmate on social media. The students, who had received sentences of three to four years in prison in the first trial, were given three-year prison terms suspended for three years on appeal. In September 2024, Judge Jung also reduced the sentences of individuals involved in a case where an aunt burned her niece with charcoal for three hours under the guise of an exorcism, resulting in the child's death. The judge ruled that the perpetrators genuinely believed the exorcism would work and lacked the intent to kill. At that time, the aunt, who had received a life sentence in the first trial, was sentenced to seven years in prison in the second trial, while other accomplices who had received sentences ranging from 10 to 25 years were all given suspended sentences. Reported by Kim Minjeong | Video Editing: | Graphics by Lee Jeong-ju | Produced by SBS Digital News

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