Top court upholds suspended prison term for YG founder in coercion case

YG founder-ruling

▲ Yang Hyun-suk, founder and former head of YG Entertainment, appears at the Seoul High Court to attend a trial on Nov. 8, 2023. (Yonhap)

YG founder-ruling

Top court upholds suspended prison term for YG founder in coercion case

SEOUL, July 18 (Yonhap) -- The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a suspended prison sentence for Yang Hyun-suk, the founder and former head of K-pop agency YG Entertainment, on charges of coercion.

The court finalized the sentence of six months in prison, suspended for one year, for Yang who was found guilty of attempting to coerce a former idol trainee to reverse her police testimony in an effort to obstruct an investigation into a drug scandal involving a YG artist.

The case stems from allegations that Yang intimidated the former trainee, Han Seo-hee, who testified to police in 2016 about drug suspicions surrounding B.I, a former member of YG's boy band iKON.

While Yang was acquitted in his first trial in 2022, an appeals court overturned that decision in November 2023, finding him guilty of the coercion charge. The Supreme Court's Friday ruling finalizes that guilty verdict.

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