3 korean celebrities attend court hearing for illegal gambling charges.

On December 6th, Comedian Lee Soo-geun, singer Tak Jae-hoon and Tony An, a former member of the popular 1990s boy band HOT, showed up at Seoul Central District Court for their first hearing, where they admitted to the illegal gambling charges.

These celebrities were being accused of betting 400 million won, Lee 370 million won, and Tak 290 million won on illegal sports gambling websites soccer game during last few year.
In South Korea, the only legal form of sports betting is through buying Sports Toto lottery tickets operated by a state-licensed brokerage company.
All three admitted to said charges during the trial.

An’s lawyer state that Tony had admitted to his wrong:

Although he received the spotlight since the young age of 18, he’s experienced psychological difficulties during the dry period of his career.

He asked of the prosecution to give An an opportunity to do community service.

Lee’s lawyer, on the other hand, said:

He didn’t think that a small betting would lead into a large crime. He’s painfully regretting his actions.

He added that Lee’s second child suffers from cerebral palsy and his wife underwent surgery. He asked for the prosecution to take his emotional labor of having to smile in public despite his painful private affairs into consideration.

Tak, for his part, admitted to the charges and added that he is self-reflecting. He asked the prosecution to consider the fact that the amount he betted was lower than the other defendants and that he has a clean criminal record.

The prosecution demanded 10 months of jail time and two years probation for An, eight months jail time and two years probation for Lee, and 6 months of jail time and two years probation for Tak.

Once the trial ended, Lee apologized to the press and said he’ll accept whatever the consequence.
An also apologized to those who supported him and promised to never make such a mistake again.
The final trial will take place on December 27th