Former The Boyz member Ju Haknyeon has won a defamation case against an entertainment reporter who linked him to prostitution. A South Korean court has ordered the journalist to pay 200 million won (around $140,000) in damages, ruling that the claims were published without enough evidence to support them. The verdict, delivered by the Seoul Central District Court’s Civil Division 25 on October 23, comes more than a year after the allegations cost Haknyeon his place in the K-pop group, The Boyz and led to the termination of his contract with the agency One Hundred.
The woman involved, a businesswoman and influencer with more than 2.8 million followers, had also denied the allegations through her agency. The court found that the claims were false and that the reporter had not done enough to verify them before publishing the story. The judge questioned how Choi had reached that conclusion, saying the information gathered during the reporting process was not enough to establish that prostitution had taken place. The court also stressed that the reporter should have taken greater care before publishing allegations that could seriously damage the singer’s reputation.
Judge Kwon Ki Man ruled that reporter Choi had defamed Ju Haknyeon by claiming that the singer had paid for a sexual arrangement with a Japanese adult film actress and later admitted to it, according to legal sources cited by Yonhap News. “It is difficult to conclude that Ju engaged in prostitution based solely on what Choi confirmed during the reporting process,” the court said, pointing to the lack of evidence to support the claim. The court also took into account statements from people who attended the gathering, who said no money had been exchanged for sexual acts. Considering these accounts and the circumstances of those involved, the court said it was “difficult to readily accept” that either party would have engaged in such conduct, given their respective positions.
South Korean outlet TenAsia later alleged that the meeting involved a paid sexual arrangement, citing industry insiders. He denied the claims, but the damage to his career soon followed. The controversy began in June 2025, when Japanese tabloid Shukan Bunshun published photos of Ju Haknyeon with Asuka Kirara, a former adult video actor, at a bar in Tokyo. He was removed from his K-pop group, and his agency terminated his exclusive contract on June 18, 2025, citing a clause related to conduct that could harm an artist’s dignity.
