YouTuber Kim Se Ui indicted while detained over false claims linking Kim Soo Hyun and Kim Sae Ron

YouTuber Kim Se Ui, the operator of the controversial YouTube channel HoverLab (also known as Garo Sero Research Institute), has been indicted while in detention on charges related to the alleged spread of false information about actor Kim Soo Hyun and the late actress Kim Sae Ron.

According to News1 on June 23, the Women's and Children's Crime Investigation Division 2 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, led by Chief Prosecutor Park Ji Na, indicted Kim Se Ui on on charges including defamation under the Information and Communications Network Act, distribution of illegally produced images under the Sexual Violence Punishment Act, and violations of South Korea's anti-stalking law.

Prosecutors worked closely with police from the warrant application stage to secure Kim Se Ui's detention. Following additional investigations, including interviews with victims and forensic analysis of audio recordings by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's Scientific Investigation Department, authorities concluded that Kim had edited or distorted materials and indiscriminately used false information without basic fact-checking to spread fabricated claims about the victim's private life.

Kim Se Ui is accused of falsely claiming through YouTube livestreams and press conferences between March and May of last year that Kim Sae Ron had dated Kim Soo Hyun, an adult at the time, for approximately six years beginning when she was 15 years old. He also allegedly claimed that pressure from Kim Soo Hyun to repay debts was the direct cause of the actress's death.

In addition, prosecutors allege that Kim Se Ui damaged Kim Soo Hyun's reputation by fabricating false information using generative artificial intelligence (AI) to manipulate Kim Sae Ron's voice.

On May 26, the court held a pre-arrest warrant hearing for Kim Se Ui and subsequently issued a detention warrant, citing concerns over the destruction of evidence and risk of flight.

According to the police warrant application, investigators stated that Kim Se Ui "knowingly distributed false information with the intent to defame, despite being aware that Kim Soo Hyun had never dated the deceased while she was a minor and that he was not responsible for her death."

Police further alleged that during a May 7 press conference, Kim Se Ui played an AI-generated recording purporting to be Kim Sae Ron's voice and falsely claimed that she had been in a relationship with Kim Soo Hyun since middle school and had first engaged in sexual relations with him during the winter vacation of her second year of middle school.

Kim Se Ui later filed a request to challenge the legality of his detention, but the court rejected the appeal, stating that there were no grounds to grant the request.