Former star anchor Sohn Suk-hee of cable channel JTBC has been let off with a slap on the wrist for assaulting an alleged blackmailer (US$1=W1,228).

Sohn was fined W3 million by summary order for assaulting freelance reporter Kim Woong, who had threatened to expose his involvement in minor fender-bender that Sohn was mysteriously keen to keep quiet.

Kim claimed that Sohn bumped into a car and fled in a parking lot in Gwacheon south of Seoul one night back in April 2017, and that he tried to dissuade Kim from going public with the story by offering him a job.

Kim accused Sohn of assaulting him when they met to discuss the job offer in a bar in Seoul in January last year.

Last May police only sent the assault charge over to prosecutors but did not pursue charges against Sohn for breach of trust, which could have arisen from the fact that he was offering company money to his nemesis.

The case made headlines again recently when it was revealed that Sohn also paid money to Cho Joo-bin, a sex offender arrested recently for hosting subscription-only online chat rooms where users paid to see young girls perform degrading sex acts after being blackmailed.

It turned out that Cho had also tried to extort tens of millions of won from Sohn by claiming he had evidence for the fender-bender in Gwacheon.

Witnesses there saw Sohn with a mysterious woman, which could explain why he was so keen to hush up the accident, but he later claimed it was his mother.