According to Allkpop, on July 15, the Seoul District Central Court (Chairman Woo In Sung) sentenced rapper B- Free (real name Choi Sung Ho, 39 years old) to 1 year and 4 months in prison for causing injury.
The court stated: "The victim is likely to suffer permanent damage to the right eye, the defendant should be severely punished."
The incident occurred in June 2023 at an apartment complex in Seoul. B- Free argued with a security guard about the entry and exit, then assaulted a resident who intervened in the controversy.
This male rapper punched the victim to the ground, causing her to break her facial bone and damage her optic nerve. The hospital diagnosed the victim's injuries and needed 8 weeks to recover, but the lower right eye area could face prolonged vision loss.
Although prosecutors have raised the B- Freeze from simple assault to serious injury, the court said the injuries cannot be firmly classified as permanent disability or irreparable damage.
When sentencing, the court reviewed B- Free's criminal record and unpitying attitude. He has 6 previous convictions, including a previous conviction for assault that occurred just one day before the incident, which resulted in a fine of 3 million won. He was also fined in early 2023 for assaulting an employee during a congresswoman's election campaign.
However, in the trial, B- Free expressed his commitment to avoiding violence, citing the lyrics of the song "Magic Hands" that helped him win the Korean Music Award last year. This is a factor that is beneficial for B- Freeze.
Both B- Free and the prosecution appealed the first instance judgment.
B- Free was previously criticized by the BTS fan community for being disrespectful to the boy group.
In 2013, BTS members Suga and RM along with B- Free and many other hip-hop artists participated in the program "KBH Hiphop Radio".
Here, B- Free caused outrage when he repeatedly attacked BTS members, criticizing them for giving up their rapper careers to become Kpop idols. He said that BTS "may continue its path to becoming a rapper but cannot resist the temptation of money".
B- Free also degraded the music genre as well as the style of the boy band Big Hit. He even clearly showed his attitude of challenging BTS fans when asked to apologize.
At that time, BTS's management company's Chairman Bang Si Hyuk went to B- Free's management company to confront him about his statements on the show, but could not meet him.
In 2019, when BTS became a globally famous K-pop group, B- Free apologized but were not forgiven by BTS fans.