Kim Mo, the father of B.I (real name Kim Han-bin), a former member of iKON, appeared as a witness in the appeal trial of Yang Hyun-suk, general producer of YG Entertainment, who tried to cover up his son’s drug charges, and explained the situation when the incident occurred in 2016.
On the afternoon of the 28th, the 3rd appeal trial was held for Yang Hyun-suk, who was charged with violating the Act on Aggravated Punishment for Specific Crimes (retaliation threat), etc.
While the charges of coercion and aiding and abetting interviews were added in the previous trial, B.I’s father appeared as a witness at the trial today and was questioned by the prosecution, defense counsel, and judge.
First, questions and answers about the B.I father and son’s trip to Japan 7 years ago were exchanged. On August 27, 2016, while iKON held a concert in Japan, B.I and his father left for Japan on August 23.
Regarding the trip right before the concert, Mr. Kim said, “I left because I wanted to go on a personal trip with my son. He said, “At the time, he issued a ticket with cash and boarded,” he said. “I remembered that it was done with a card at first. He said, “If you used up your credit card limit and paid in cash, that would be correct.” When the prosecutors emphasized that the payment was made in cash, saying, “The fact that the payment was made with a credit card cannot be confirmed,” the father corrected in the cross-examination of the lawyer, “The credit card was not used because it was in bad credit.”
When asked why the two of them left the country separately from the other members, Mr. Kim said, “It was because I had never traveled with my son, and in a situation where I couldn’t cancel my schedule, the travel schedule was postponed one by one, and around that time I received a call saying that the schedule was empty.” He said, “I knew about a month ago that the time was available, but I didn’t book a month in advance. The reservation was made the day before (August 22).”
However, the two returned home on the morning of August 24, the second day after their departure. Regarding the reason for leaving the trip and returning the next day, Mr. Kim said, “I don’t know the details, but I received a call that I had to return that day inevitably because there was a visa problem for the performance. I asked why I had to go when I was in Japan, and they said that I could come in for a while and extend my visa, so I left on the first flight in the morning.”
According to the prosecution, on the day of her return, Kim received a call from YG saying “a problem has occurred” and learned that Han Seo-hee revealed her B.I drug allegations during a police investigation. According to the police report presented by the prosecution, Mr. Kim stated that he was told by Mr. A ( a YG official), who was indicted with Yang Hyun-suk, that ‘Yang Hyun-suk met with Han Seo-hee and told her to put it back to normal’ and ‘don’t worry’.
Mr. Kim said, “(Yang Hyun-seok met Han Seo-hee) I remember hearing that she said, ‘She told me to put it back to its original state. She did not tell me when she met Seo-hee Han메이저사이트,” but revealed that she did not directly confirm the facts with her son.
When the prosecution asked B.I why he did not confirm the facts, Mr. Kim said, “At the time, Hanbin was not in good mental health, and this content itself was not good, and Mr. A did not seriously talk to me. It was said that Hanbin did not come out in the simple examination several times. Since I was young, I thought that I might have been curious (about drugs), but my parents talked about it before the performance, so I didn’t say it in case it would hurt me,” he added. “I know that YG didn’t confirm with B.I at the time.”
When the prosecution asked,’What is the reason for concluding that Han Seo-hee’s statement was a false report? CEO Yang Min-seok also contacted me.”
However, Mr. Kim also directly appointed a lawyer for Han Seo-hee through YG at the time. When the prosecution asked, “Why did you appoint a lawyer when Han Seo-hee lied, ” he said, “From my point of view, since Han Seo-hee lied , I thought that YG should appoint a lawyer ( to correct it).” When he said he would, I delivered 2 million won in cash to YG to pay for the appointment of a lawyer for Han Seo-hee. Mr. A said, ‘It doesn’t look good for my father to appoint, so give us money and we’ll take care of it.’”
When asked why the prosecution again appointed a lawyer for Han Seo-hee, Mr. Kim said, “At the time, Han Bin was not in the stage of being investigated or investigated, and if Han Seo-hee made a false statement (that Kim Han-bin used drugs), of course that statement could not be a true statement. I thought that I should get legal help so that I could do it,” he said.
Mr. Kim said, “Two weeks later, I received a call from Mr. A saying that ‘the matter was resolved smoothly’. She wondered what Han Seo-hee said at the police, but she only talked about, ‘Is the relationship well organized?’ and ‘Well organized’.”
When the prosecution asked again about the police statement that ‘Yang Hyun-seok told Han Seo-hee to put it back to its original state’ and ‘don’t worry’, Mr. Kim confirmed, “Yes.”
In 2016, Yang Hyun-suk was put on trial for threatening public interest whistleblower Han Seo-hee, a former singer trainee, who accused B.I (Kim Han-bin), a member of YG’s group icon, for drug purchases, to change her statement at the police . The incident became known after Han Seo-hee reported a public interest to the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission in 2019.
In the first trial, the prosecution requested a three-year prison term for Yang Hyun-suk, but the judge acquitted him due to insufficient evidence. The prosecution appealed to the effect that the first trial was wrong in acknowledging the facts and interpreting the law. Yang Hyun- suk returned as YG
general producer in January of this year, right after he was acquitted in the first trial . B.I was found guilty of drug use and sentenced to 3 years in prison and 4 years probation.
Meanwhile, Han Seo-hee was sentenced to prison on March 21st for the third drug charge. The second division of the Supreme Court finally dismissed the appeal in relation to Han Seo-hee’s alleged violation of the Narcotics Control Act (psychiatric), and confirmed a six-month imprisonment.