School violence allegations against actress Cha Ye-ryun unlikely to result in criminal charges, lawyer says

Amid continuing controversy over school violence allegations against actress Cha Ye-ryun, a practicing lawyer has said that even if the allegations are true, criminal punishment would be difficult given that the incident occurred 25 years ago. Cha, who has denied the allegations, has drawn attention after removing a family photo video from YouTube and deleting group-purchase links from her SNS profile.

A video addressing the legal issues surrounding the school violence allegations against Cha was published Wednesday on the YouTube channel "New Lawyers." Attorney Kim Su-yeol said that even if the person's real name was not directly mentioned in the original post, the requirement of identifiability could still be met.

"Even without a real name, identifiability is recognized if some people can figure out who it is," Kim said. "The key question is whether there are enough clues to infer that it refers to one specific person."

Kim also addressed the suspension of access to the original post, saying that a temporary measure and a finding of falsehood are two separate matters.

Access to the original post alleging school violence by Cha was restricted Nov. 2 under Article 44-2 of the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection.

"The fact that a post has been subject to a temporary measure does not mean it has been found to be false," Kim said. "Access was temporarily restricted because a dispute over rights infringement between the parties was anticipated."

Kim added that it had not been confirmed who requested the measure.

Kim said criminal punishment for past school violence was unlikely.

"If the person who came forward is seeking to hold Cha accountable for school violence that happened 25 years ago, that is too far in the past," Kim said. "The statutes of limitations for assault and bodily injury are five and seven years respectively, and both have already expired."

Kim added that even if the statute of limitations had not run out, the person may have been under 14 at the time of the alleged conduct. "Even if it actually happened, criminal punishment is in effect very difficult," Kim said.

However, Kim said the question of criminal liability for school violence and the question of defamation liability against the person who came forward are entirely separate matters.

"Whether the school violence can be punished and whether the allegations automatically constitute false statements if Cha files a defamation complaint against the accuser are different issues," Kim said. "The accuser would need to defend by arguing that the statements are not false."

Kim said securing objective evidence would be critical to that defense.

"The best approach is to look for statements from classmates, diaries written at the time of the bullying, accounts shared with people nearby, or medical records," Kim said. "Materials that can support the fact of the harm suffered at the time are what matter most."

Meanwhile, a post appeared on an online community on Oct. 29 claiming that the author had been subjected to school violence during middle school by an actress born in 1985. The author alleged repeated assault and sustained bullying, and some online users identified Cha based on her birth year and school background.

In response, Cha's agency said the allegations were "groundless" and warned it would take strong action against the spread of false information and personal attacks.

Despite Cha's camp's outright denial of the allegations, the fallout has continued.

As of Thursday, group-purchase links for perilla oil, kimchi stew and aprons that had appeared on her SNS profile were gone, and a family photo video featuring Cha alongside her husband Joo Sang-wook and their daughter — which had accumulated 1.58 million views — had been deleted.

Some observers suggested the moves reflected an awareness of public sentiment following the emergence of the school violence allegations.

Cha's agency, HB Entertainment, pushed back against that interpretation, saying the group-purchase links were taken down because the sales period had ended and that the contract with the vendor remained in place.