US YouTuber Johnny Somali arrested in South Korea after statue shooting – National
An American YouTuber who sparked outrage in South Korea by performing provocative stunts, including dancing and kissing a statue honoring victims of wartime sex slavery, was sentenced to six months in prison on public nuisance charges by a Seoul court on Wednesday.
The Seoul Western District Court found Ramsey Khalid Ismael, a self-proclaimed Internet “troll” known as Johnny Somali, guilty of multiple charges, including disrupting business and distributing sexually suggestive content, according to the Associated Press.
Somali, 25, was ordered to be arrested immediately following this decision. He had been barred from leaving South Korea since his impeachment in 2024 after being deemed a plane crash.
Prosecutors had sought a three-year sentence for Somalia, who also faced allegations of abusing employees and visitors at the amusement park, disrupting the store by blasting music and lifting noodles from the table, causing similar scenes on the bus and subway and distributing prohibited videos.
The court said Somalia had shown a “gross” disregard for South Korea’s law and noted that it had offended many people with live broadcasts intended to generate revenue for YouTube.
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In October 2024, Somalia sparked outrage in South Korea after posting a video of her kissing and dancing in the lap of the Statue of Peace, a bronze statue commemorating victims of Japanese military sexual slavery during World War II.
The Comfort Women Statue or Statue of Peace depicting the Korean Comfort Women or sex slaves of the Japanese soldiers during World War II, is seen in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul, South Korea.
Lee Jae-Won/AFLO via ZUMA Press
He apologized for his actions and said he “didn’t know the significance of the statue” before removing the clip from YouTube.
In addition to his sentence, Somali was sentenced to another 20 days in jail and banned for five years from working with children and people with disabilities after his release, NBC News reported.
“The defendant repeatedly committed crimes against unnamed members of the public in order to profit from YouTube and distributed the content in disregard of Korean law,” the court said.
The media in South Korea reported that Somalia apologized for his actions before entering the court on Wednesday.
“I think that justice will happen. I am sorry, I apologize for my crimes,” Somali said.
The Korea Herald reported that Somalia received a reduced sentence due to “the absence of serious injuries to the victims.”
Somalia was also arrested at the 2024 protest in Tel Aviv after he made inappropriate comments to a female police officer.
Somalia was broadcasting the protest on his social media at the time of the incident and recorded himself calling the officer a “b–ch” and telling him, “I’m going to slap him for that-,” among other comments.
He was arrested on suspicion of obstructing a police officer, insulting a public servant, disorderly conduct in a public place and breach of privacy, according to the Times of Israel.
Somali was also arrested in Japan for illegally entering a construction site in Osaka in 2023 and fined approximately US$1,000 (C$1,374.75) for disrupting a restaurant with loud music.
– Via files from the Associated Press
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