It’s been a few months since the last update on the domestic incident between Hara and her ex-boyfriend Choi Jong Bum, but recently he was indicted without detention for his role in the incident and will face trial for the assault and blackmailing charges.

On January 30, the Department of Crimes Against Women and Children at the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office indicted Choi Jong Bum without detention. According to the prosecution, Choi Jong Bum is being charged with causing injury to Goo Hara’s arms and legs during a fight on September 13 around 1 a.m. and for threatening to leak a sex video. After threatening to end Goo Hara’s celebrity career by sending the video to Dispatch, it was confirmed that he did not actually send an email, and he was cleared of any charges for video distribution. Choi Jong Bum is currently denying all charges, but the prosecution explained that there is evidence to support the charges, including CCTV footage.

Meanwhile, even though it was concluded that Hara also did caused him harm, her indictment was suspended due to the fact that he instigated the incident.

The police stated that Goo Hara did cause Choi Jong Bum bodily harm and forwarded her to prosecutors in November with a recommendation for indictment. However, while the prosecution stated that they acknowledged Goo Hara’s crimes, they considered both the fact that Choi Jong Bum instigated the physical altercation as well as the situation after the crime and offered her leniency with a suspension of indictment.



Right, as I covered before, Hara also being charged was inevitable due to the nature of Korea’s (wonky, IMO) self-defense laws and the fact that he coincidentally needed the exact amount of recovery time necessary (for scratches) to nix that being a valid defense for her.

Following this story has been interesting, because it sorta shows how important getting your narrative out there first is, no matter how many holes get poked in it. Early on in this, a third party (Dispatch) reported how shady he was being, yet despite knowing both sides suffered injuries, people somehow found it hard to believe that Hara didn’t one-sidedly beat a guy. Either way, maybe going forward we should look at what we know about a case and adjust our opinion from there instead of just going on whatever netizens say.