On September 25, KST, the court finally handed a sentence to actress Hwang Jung Eum who has been on trial over charges of embezzlement.
The Jeju District Court’s Criminal Division 2, presided over by Judge Im Jae Nam, sentenced the actress to two years in prison, suspended for four years, for violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. Hwang had been accused of embezzling ₩4.34 billion KRW (about $3.08 million USD) from Hunminjeongeum Entertainment, a company whose 100% ownership belonged to her.
In July 2022, Hwang borrowed ₩800 million KRW (about $567,000 USD) under the agency’s name, and then transferred ₩700 million KRW (about $496,000 USD) out of it to her personal account from the company account under the guise of temporary payments. She reportedly invested the money in cryptocurrency.
From July to October 2022, she allegedly repeated the process 13 times, investing over ₩4.30 billion KRW (about $3.05 million USD) in cryptocurrency by taking it out of the company’s funds. Additionally, reports stated that she also used some of the money to pay property and local taxes, credit card bills, and stock mortgage loans.
Hwang’s first trial regarding this embezzlement case was in May 2025, when she admitted to all the charges and requested a continuation to repay the damages. At that point, she had already paid back around ₩3.00 billion KRW (about $2.13 million USD). Later, she disposed of her personal assets and reimbursed the remaining damages by making two separate payments on May 30 and June 5.
Prosecutors had requested a three year prison sentence for the actress, but the court ultimately took her repayment efforts into consideration and her cooperation in the investigation. These two factors reportedly played a significant role in Hwang being saved from immediate imprisonment and receiving a suspended sentence instead.
You can read more about her case here:
Top Actress Admits To Embezzling Over 3 Million From Her Own Agency
