Yang Ye-won attorney calls for judge to publicize Oct. 10 trial

YouTuber Yang Ye-won on Wednesday attended the first court date of the defendant indicted on taking and leaking explicit photos of Yang and another victim.

At the court, Yang’s attorney requested the next hearing be made public, including Yang’s witness examination. The request was being made because the defendant did not admit to his alleged crimes or showed remorse, according the lawyer.

The defendant reportedly admitted to leaking the photos of models who agreed to only the photo shoot. He has denied any sexual or physical contact of the victims.

The judge said he would consider whether to make the next hearing, slated for Oct. 10, public as her attorney called for.

“I really had a hard time, feeling fear and pressure,” Yang told the press outside the court. “Sometimes I had second thoughts about publicizing the whole thing, but I felt that if I stopped here, the people behind all this would get away with everything.”

Yang took long pauses while answering the press, fighting back tears.

“That’s why I tried my best to not give up in this,” Yang said.

As the #MeToo movement belatedly swept across Korea earlier this year, Yang uploaded a video on her YouTube channel in May about her experience of being a victim to the alleged sexual abuse three years ago.

Enraged viewers, including popular singer and actress Suzy, petitioned to punish the alleged abusers.

One of the accused photographers tried to turn the tables by uploading images of private messages Yang had exchanged with him, indicating that Yang had submitted to taking the explicit photos voluntarily.

While the internet showed mixed reactions to the incident, the sudden death of the accused photographer on July 12 seemed to have nearly concluded the whole case.

More information about Yang’s incident and the trial is to be revealed in the upcoming months.

By Kim Jee-min (jeeminkim@heraldcorp.com)