Man who broke into actor Nana's home gets 7-year sentence upheld on appeal

A man in his 30s who broke into the home of actor Nana, whose real name is Im Jin-a, and threatened her with a weapon has had his sentence upheld on appeal.

The 14th Criminal Division 3 of Seoul High Court sentenced the defendant, identified only by his surname Kim, to seven years in prison Thursday — the same term handed down at trial — on charges of robbery causing bodily harm, Yonhap reported.

The court said the lower court had considered that Kim broke into a residence at night — a time when absolute peace must be guaranteed — while armed with a weapon, that the crime warranted heavy punishment, that the victims had suffered considerable harm, and that they wished to see him punished.

The court added that there were no new grounds to change the sentence since the lower court's ruling and dismissed the appeals filed by both prosecutors and Kim.

Kim is accused of entering Nana's home in Acheon-dong, Guri, Gyeonggi Province, on the morning of Nov. 15 last year while armed with a weapon, choking Nana and her mother, and demanding money before fleeing without obtaining any.

Prosecutors had sought a 10-year sentence at the final appeal hearing last month. They told the court that while many defendants had varied criminal records, it was rare to see someone who had committed so many different offenses, and that Kim "fundamentally lacks a law-abiding spirit to a remarkable degree and is also skilled at lying."

Prosecutors also said Kim was "far from showing remorse for his wrongdoing" and had instead filed a criminal complaint against the victim and continued to make false claims, adding that he was "using the victim's status as a celebrity to continue inflicting secondary harm."

Kim's defense attorney said in response that his client "deeply regrets causing psychological harm to the victims" and maintained that Kim "did not break into the home with the intention of committing robbery from the outset."

In his final statement, Kim said he had intended to steal from what he believed was an empty house to cover his mother's medical bills and that he had no intention of hurting anyone. He added that while he knew it was selfish to ask for leniency as a defendant who had committed a crime, he earnestly pleaded for it.

Meanwhile, Nana's side spoke out about the ongoing harm caused by secondary victimization.

Nana's agency Sublime issued an official statement Wednesday, saying it hoped the artist and her family, who had "suffered serious pain from this incident," would no longer be hurt by false claims and secondary harm. The agency said it would "take all legal and administrative measures to protect the artist's safety and well-being."