After Jaejoong’s April fool’s joke, he could be getting into serious trouble with the law!
Earlier today, Jaejoong claimed that he had contracted the coronavirus and was hospitalized. This caused an immediate frenzy in the press. Less than an hour later, Jaejoong edited his post to clarify that he was not infected and had pulled an April’s fool prank, his excuse? He says he wanted to raise awareness for the virus.
His explanation was met with severe criticism from his fans all around the world as they tried to make sense of what he’s done, but now it seems that he could be possibly facing legal repercussions for his stunt.
The Korean Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) released an official statement addressing what he’s done, they specialize in controlling epidemics that occur in the country and they told news outlets that they’re looking into Jaejoong’s case and discussing how to carry out the punishment, revealing that the authorities responsible for quarantine had previously charged people for making false calls or inciting confusion, however, since Jaejoong is a celebrity who had posted this message to a massive following, it requires more consideration.
There are laws that he could’ve have broken, a law called ‘crimes against obstruction of justice by hierarchy’ could be applied here, it is used against people who obstruct officials’ duties or lie. If found guilty, they could face up to 5 years in prison or a fine of up to 10,000 won (~$8,100).
Netizens are in favor of punishing Jaejoong to set an example for all others to follow.
Do you think he should be punished?
