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| Johnny Somali sparked outrage after kissing a statue symbolising sex slaves during World War Two(Image: Reuters) |
American livestreamer Johnny Somali, who caused outrage in South Korea by kissing a statue representing World War Two sex slaves, has been sentenced to six months in jail.
In November 2024, while he was visiting South Korea, he posted a video of himself kissing and doing lap dances on the statue. The authorities in Seoul then arrested him and charged him with public nuisance. Since then, he has been denied entry into the country. The 25-year-old, whose real name is Ismael Ramsey Khalid, has been banned from several streaming platforms for his provocative content. Additionally, he has been accused of harassing others while traveling in Israel and Japan. Khalid was found guilty on Wednesday of a number of charges, including spreading sexual deepfakes and being a public nuisance. "The defendant repeatedly committed crimes against unspecified members of the public to generate profit via YouTube and distributed the content in disregard of Korean law," the court said, according to South Korean media.
According to The Korea Herald, the judges handed down a lower sentence despite the prosecution's request for a three-year sentence and the "absence of severe harm to victims." Khalid has also been barred from working with organisations that serve minors and people with disabilities when he is eventually released.
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During World War Two, an estimated 200,000 women around Asia were forced to be wartime sex slaves for Japanese soldiers. Many of them were Korean, while others came from China, the Philippines, Indonesia and Taiwan.
There are several statues across South Korea, usually depicting a young woman seated in a chair, which have been installed by activists to remember these "comfort women". Due to South Korea's persistent demand for compensation from Japan for these women, the statues have previously stoked diplomatic tensions. Khalid, who has around 5,000 followers on YouTube, had apologised in November 2024 saying he "didn't understand the significance of the statue". However, many users questioned his sincerity. While investigations were ongoing in South Korea, Khalid had challenged locals to fight him. In a number of social media videos, he is punched and chased through the streets. He had previously streamed obscene videos in public, vandalized a convenience store, and caused a disturbance on public transportation. Earlier in 2024, Khalid was detained at a protest in Tel Aviv, Israel, for making inappropriate remarks towards a female police officer, but later released.
He made remarks about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the final days of World War Two, among other things, while he was in Japan in 2023 and taunted the locals. He was later fined $1,400 after playing loud music in a restaurant and disrupting business.
Source: BBC
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