(Song Hye-kyo official website)

A man who wrote several online posts claiming actress Song Hye-kyo had a sponsor and was receiving financial benefits in return for sex, was fined for defamation.

The Seoul District Court brought Mr. Seo into court on Sunday, after he claimed that the actress was being sponsored by a famous politician in the Saenuri political party.

In a post left in January and again in May, Mr. Seo claimed, “There are people in this country that are suffering because of the Saenuri party, and she is being sponsored by an old Saenuri grandpa, how can you still like her?”

He added, “There is a sponsor behind Song for sure, and her agency is a well-known supporter of Saenuri.”

He was fined 3 million KRW for defamation of character.

Song Hye-kyo previously filed charges of defamation against 41 netizens who released similar sponsorship rumors back in 2012.

She claimed that her reputation was affected by the rumor that she was being sponsored by a politician and that she was benefiting financially from him since September 2008 to December last year.

By Lee Sang-won (sangdoze@heraldcorp.com)