First filed in March this year, the case's first hearing is scheduled for August 23 BTS members Jungkook and V – through their label Big Hit Music – have filed a ₩90million (almost £52,000) lawsuit against infamous Korean YouTube channel Sojang, for damages from alleged defamation and slander. According to Star News , who was among the first to break the news on August 16, the lawsuit was filed against the anonymised owner of Sojang in March, with its first hearing scheduled for August 23, months after it was first brought to the court’s attention. Big Hit Music has made its commitment to taking legal action against malicious commenters public for several years, however only first directly mentioned Sojang in a statement in June 2023.
“In 2022, we sued Sojang for defamation and obstruction of business, however later received a decision from the court to suspend the investigation. We have actively requested to resume investigations since, by trying to obtain the personal information of Sojang and providing it to the relevant authorities. It has since resumed,” the statement read.
On top of the original lawsuit, Big Hit Music added that it has filed “an additional civil lawsuit early this year seeking damages for the defamation and Sojang’s other illegal acts. The first hearing will be held soon.” The company also emphasised that the first lawsuit presented to the court included numerous suspects, and that investigations for everyone else sued by Big Hit Musi.