On May 17, two individuals accused of attempting to blackmail South Korean national football star Son Heung Min appeared at the Seoul Central District Court for a pretrial detention warrant hearing.
The suspects, a woman in her 20s surnamed Yang and a man in his 40s surnamed Yong, are being investigated for trying to extort money from Son by falsely claiming that Yang was pregnant with his child. Judge Yoon Won Mook conducted the hearing, which began at 2:00 p.m.
Yang arrived at the courthouse at around 1:44 p.m., dressed in a tracksuit and restrained with a rope. She remained silent in response to reporters’ questions, including whether she admitted to the blackmail charges and whether she still claimed to be pregnant with Son's child.
Yong, who appeared shortly after in a black tracksuit, also declined to answer questions about the reason for demanding tens of millions of KRW and whether the two suspects had planned the blackmail together.
Yang, who was previously in a relationship with Son, reportedly sent him ultrasound images in June last year, claiming to be pregnant. She allegedly used the claim to blackmail him and received 300 million KRW (approximately $214,889).
After the relationship ended, Yang reportedly began seeing Yong. Upon discovering that she had already received money from Son, Yong allegedly demanded an additional 7000 million KRW (about $50,000) from Son’s side, threatening to expose the situation. This led Son Heung Min’s management agency to file a police report, which launched an official investigation.
The Gangnam Police Station received the complaint on May 7. The suspects were arrested on the evening of May 14, and the police applied for pretrial detention warrants the following day. Authorities are currently investigating the authenticity of the ultrasound images and other key facts in the case.
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