YouTubers who threatened Ziyang investigated in other cases

After prosecutors have launched an investigation into YouTubers suspected of blackmailing and conspiring to blackmail famous ‘eating YouTuber’ Ziyang (real name Park Jeong-won), one of the YouTubers involved has announced that he will voluntarily appear before prosecutors.

According to sources for The Dong-A Ilbo on Sunday, Gujeyeok (real name Lee Joon-hee), who is suspected of extortion and other charges, said on YouTube on Saturday, "I will voluntarily submit a cell phone containing all the voice recordings of a year, called the golden phone, to the prosecution on Monday and appear in person to receive interrogation." The phone reportedly contains recordings of calls with the late CEO of Ziyang’s management agency.

The move came in response after the Seoul Central District Public Prosecutors' Office was assigned the case of complaints seeking to punish YouTubers who conspired to blackmail Ziyang and began investigating. On Friday, Gujeyeok claimed innocence on his YouTube channel, saying that he was "double-spying to prevent the revelations about Ziyang."

However, his voluntary appearance is unlikely to stop prosecutors from investigating him. "We are still in the stage of reviewing to determine whether to investigate the case directly or transfer it to the police," the prosecution office said, "We are currently in the stage of allocating the case to prosecutors, and subpoena and investigation of suspects will be conducted in accordance with the investigation schedule."


주현우 woojoo@donga.com