On November 18, the Seoul District Court maintained its original sentence of 2 years in prison for Ahn Joon Young PD and 1 year, 8 months in prison for Kim Yong Bum CP, for the manipulation of Mnet's 'Produce' survival series.
Previously during the two broadcast producers' initial trial, the court declared both Ahn Joon Young and Kim Yong Bum guilty of selecting the winning members of 'Produce 48' and 'Produce X 101' prior to the final voting, then manipulating viewers to believe that they were voting for their favorite candidates through paid text messaging applications. Furthermore, the court declared that all of the 'Produce' series including 'Produce 101' season 1 and 2 were rigged by Ahn PD and Kim CP.
As a result, Ahn PD was sentenced to 2 years in prison plus a fine of approximately 37 million KRW (~ 33,400 USD), while Kim CP was sentenced to 1 year and 8 months, as well as the same amount in fines as Ahn PD.
Meanwhile, the Korea Communications Standards Commission previously also fined CJ ENM a total of 120 million KRW (~ 108,000 USD) for the manipulation of the 'Produce' series.
I can't believe they actually sent them to prison . Because most the time in korea people get away with probation or small fine. So that means in korea bigger the crime smaller there punishment and vice versa.
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