"It starts to take tons of time" SM Entertainment's legal representative breaks down the process behind the agency's reporting site, KWANGYA 119

On September 28, one of the lawyers belonging to SM Entertainment, Han Sang-hoon, sat down with the variety show host, MC JaeJae, to brief fans about the intricacies, policies, and processes behind the agency's newly opened reporting website, KWANGYA 119. Due to the increase in threats and violations of SM artists, the agency opened up a reporting center where netizens and fans can report incidents harming the rights and safety of the artists like defamation, illegal ticket sale, and other general issues.

Han Sang-hoon provided viewers with an in-depth look into the workings of KWANGYA 119 and explained why legal action against a violation of their artist takes time. He walked the audience through the process step by step, shedding light on the behind-the-scenes activities.

Given that the lawyers first need to filter the complaints which can be developed into legal action and then the cases are passed to the police for their investigation, the processing of the same alone takes about six months.

"It starts to take tons of time," he said.

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SM Entertainment's Lawyer Han Sang-hoon briefs fans about the behind the scene of KWANGYA 119

Han Sang-hoon started by explaining that all the complaints and posts uploaded on the KWANGYA 119 website are first examined and filtered by SM Entertainment staff, and cases that can be pursued or are strong enough to warrant legal action are forwarded to the KWANGYA 119 project workers.

The agency's team of ten lawyers cross-checks these received complaints through task checklists such as the nature of the crime, the possibility of apprehending the criminal, and the possibility of cooperation from relevant organizations.

Given the nature of the task and how each and every case goes through the same checklist, it naturally eats up much time. Han Sang-hoon's revelation that the unit receives a minimum of 400 cases per month, further adds to the elongating period of the procession.

However, not all 400 cases are processed completely. All the cross-checked cases reach SM Entertainment's legal unit for a review and those that pass the filtration are handed over to the police.

SM Entertainment's legal representative also stated that sometimes it requires convincing the investigator to take up the case.

"I need to persuade the investigator emphasizing how dangerous this crime is and how much damage it is to the individual victim artist, and thus socially, there is a need for punishment," he said.

Then again, he explained that some cases are less prioritized in comparison to others. Cases that have been reported by the media, that require the arrest of a suspect, and those that need urgent attention to prevent further damages are undertaken first as they are time constraint. The other cases naturally fall as a secondary priority.

With the investigation of both the KWANGYA 119 unit and the police coming roughly up to six months in total, the cases further proceeded to the prosecutor's office if the victim SM Entertainment's artist wishes to proceed with the same. However, Han Sang-hoon explained that since the actual presence of the victim at the police stations is required, many artists fail to proceed with legal action to prevent misunderstanding, rumors, and further image damage.

Finally, after the prosecutors go through another set of investigations from their side, the case is put to trial at the court, and punishments are carried out according to the law and the decisions made by the judge.