Two Commenters Insulted NewJeans' Hanni. A Court Made Each Pay 100,000 Won.

Two people left comments about NewJeans' Hanni under news articles about her National Assembly testimony. A Seoul court has now ordered each of them to pay her 100,000 won, about $75. The amount is small; the line the court drew is the story: criticism is lawful, contemptuous insult is not. THE RECORD 15 October 2024 — Hanni appears as a reference witness at the National Assembly Environment and Labor Committee audit, about her complaint of workplace harassment. November 2024 — the labor office closes her complaint, finding it difficult to treat her as a worker under the Labor Standards Act. Under articles about her testimony, two commenters mocked her Australian background and her Korean, called her paranoid, and accused her of scheming for money. She sued them for damages. July 2026 — Seoul Western District Court, Civil Division 12 (Judge Lee Gwan-hyeong): each must pay 100,000 won for emotional distress. "Expressing a critical opinion about another person cannot, in principle, be considered unlawful, but the comments in question contain insulting language or contemptuous and abusive remarks." 1 October 2026 — reported by the JoongAng Ilbo. Belift Lab denied the September 2024 allegation that a manager told people to ignore her; Hanni's side disputed how the CCTV footage was handled. WHAT WE ARE NOT CLAIMING What Hanni originally asked for, why the reports call it a partial win, or whether either side appealed. None of that was in the reporting. One English write-up dated the ruling July 2025; the Korean originals put it in July 2026, which is the date used here. THE COMMENTS From JTBC News' full broadcast of the 15 October 2024 testimony, quoted exactly as written; Korean comments are shown in the original with an English translation and read aloud as translated. Attributed to the platform only. FOOTAGE Stage, music video and broadcast footage is used briefly, with its audio removed, for news commentary. All sources are attributed on screen. SOURCES Korea JoongAng Daily (1 Oct 2026), Ilgan Sports, Mydaily, Tenasia and Hankyung on the ruling; The Korea Times (8 and 15 Oct 2024) on the testimony and Belift Lab's denial; JTBC News for the testimony broadcast. Thank you for watching. #Hanni #하니 #NewJeans #뉴진스 #Kpop #MOCHiMELON