A South Korean man has been fined for spreading rumours online that the 94-year-old widow of late president Kim Dae-Jung was going to marry hip-hop legend Dr Dre.
The 73-year-old from Seoul was found guilty of defamation and ordered to pay £3,430 after sharing links to a conspiracy theorist’s blog.
It claimed that the nonagenarian former First Lady and the founder of Death Row Records were to unite in holy matrimony in order to launder money left behind by President Kim.
He’s on Death Row: A South Korean man was fined over spreading a conspiracy theory that Dr Dre, was going to marry Lee Hee-Ho, the 94-year-old widow of a former president
President Kim is known for his ‘sunshine policy’ in relation to North Korea, working towards peaceful engagement with Pyongyang.
He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000, is sometimes called the ‘Nelson Mandela of Asia’.
His widow, Lee Hee-Ho, remains an influential figure in Korean politics even after her husband’s death in 2009.
The bizarre online rumour involving Mrs Lee and Dr Dre emerged on an anonymous blog in January this year.
It claimed that the former first lady was to marry the American rapper to ‘launder the late president Kim’s slush funds’.
Bizarre: The rumour claimed that the U.S. music mogul and the elderly former first lady were planning on marrying in order to launder money left behind by the late president
The 73-year-old now convicted of defamation is believed to have shared the blog post online.
The Seoul Western District Court on Friday dismissed the rumour as ‘groundless’ and fined him 5 million won (£3,430).
‘The defendant violated the honour of the deceased and the bereaved,’ Judge Lee Eun-hee said in the ruling, the Korea Times reported Monday.
‘The rumour about the slush fund and the marriage between Lee and Dr Dre is groundless,’ the judge added.
‘Nelson Mandela of Asia’: Lee Hee-ho, right, poses with her late husband, former President Kim Dae-jung, and the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang in 2000
Rapper-producer Andre Romelle Young, also known under his stage name Dr Dre, has risen to icon status since pioneering gangsta rap with NWA in the 1980s.
He is the man behind Death Row Records, credited with discovering Snoop Dogg, Tupac, 50 Cent and Eminem, and more recently created the Beats headphone brand, bought by Apple in a multi-million-dollar deal.
It is not known if the Compton-born 52-year-old has been made aware of the South Korean defamation case.
Online South Korean commentators quickly picked up on the fictional wedding as one of the funniest jokes for some time.
‘I cracked up just by reading the headline,’ posted one online user.
Another asked: ‘Will Eminem be singing at their wedding?’