Jang Woo-hyuk. [Herald Muse]
Jang Woo-hyuk. [Herald Muse]

An appeal has begun for a former agency employee who was acquitted on defamation charges after publicly accusing singer Jang Woo-hyuk — a former member of idol group H.O.T. — of verbal and physical abuse.

The Seoul Western District Court's Criminal Division 2-1 (Appeals) is set to hold the first hearing of the appeal on Sept. 10, according to legal sources. The employee, identified only as A, was indicted on charges of defamation under the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection.

A posted an account on an online community in 2022 alleging that Jang had subjected her to verbal and physical abuse for years.

A claimed Jang assaulted her in 2014 and again in 2020. "I had long endured verbal abuse and personal insults from him, but I thought it was something I simply had to bear," she wrote. "I also blamed myself for everything, since staying and working through it was my own decision. Some people even told me they thought he held back because I was a woman."

Jang denied the allegations and filed a defamation complaint, calling A's claims false. He also alleged that it was A who had assaulted him during the 2020 incident she described.

Police found no basis for charges against A. Prosecutors determined that the 2014 assault allegation was credible but concluded that the 2020 claim was false, and indicted A accordingly.

The first-instance court acquitted A in November last year, finding her account more likely than not to be true.

The court noted that Jang had taken no disciplinary or corrective action against A despite claiming she had assaulted him, and that the power dynamic between a company head and an employee placed Jang in a position of clear authority — factors the court said cast doubt on Jang's version of events. The court also found A's account specific and consistent with the circumstances, concluding that its falsity had not been proven.


paq@heraldcorp.com