[Exclusive] Prosecutors Indict Brazilian Woman in Her 30s for Stalking BTS's Jungkook by Ringing His

Original article: Herald Economy

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Accused of stalking by visiting Jungkook's residence 23 times

"Repeatedly rang the doorbell hundreds of times and waited nearby"

Also charged with trespassing by entering through an open side door

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

It has been confirmed that prosecutors have indicted a Brazilian woman in her 30s for repeatedly visiting the residence of Jungkook, a member of BTS, and engaging in stalking behavior, including ringing his front-door doorbell hundreds or times and unlawfully entering his home. 

According to the investigation by Herald Economy  on March 3, the Women and Children Crimes Investigation Division of the Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office (Chief prosecutor Wang Sun-joo) indicted the woman, identified as Ms. A, on February 27 on charges of violating the anti-stalking act and trespassing, while she was custody. Although she was also investigated for attempted trespassing, prosecutors dismissed that charge due to insufficient evidence. 

Ms. A is accused of visiting Jungkook's residence a total of 23 times between December 7 of last year and January 4 of this year. During these visits, she allegedly rang the doorbell hundreds of times, waited near his home, and left letters and other mail, constituting repeated stalking behavior. 

In late December, she had already received an "emergency protective measure" from the police in connection with her stalking. Nevertheless, she reportedly returned to Jungkook's residence in early January, violating that order, which led to an additional charge under the Anti-Stalking Act. 

Under current law, responses to stalking crimes proceed in stages: emergency measures, urgent emergency measures, and provisional measures. Emergency measures involve immediate intervention by police officers at the scene. Urgent emergency measures allow police to impose restrictions such as a 100-meter restraining order or contact ban when there is a risk of repeated stalking and urgent action is required. Provisional measures may be imposed by a court or at a prosecutor's request when there is a risk of a recurrence.

Ms. A is also accused of trespassing on December 13 of last year by entering Jungkook's residence through a side door after a food delivery worker opened it, left the food inside, and exited. 

The Yongsan Police Station arrested Ms. A in the act on December 13 for trespassing and questioned her. At the time, she stated that she "only wanted to make her presence known and had no aggressive intentions." She was released after questioning the following day. 

However, prosecutors determined that her actions continued. On December 28, Jungkook's staff discovered Ms. A in front of his residence and reported her to the police, who then imposed urgent emergency measures. The following day, the Seoul Western district court approved the measures. Despite this, Ms. A visited his residence again in January. 

After her whereabouts became unknown, police applied for an arrest warrant on January 28. Prosecutors requested the warrant, which was issued, leading to her arrest on February 10. A detention warrant was later approved, and she was placed under formal custody on February 13.

On February 19, prosecutors received the case from the police and conducted further investigations, including questioning Ms. A and interviewing the police in charge. During questioning, she reportedly stated that she "largely acknowledged the facts but acted out of love for Jungkook and had no intention to harm him," thereby denying criminal intent. 

Nevertheless, prosecutors concluded that her actions constituted stalking and trespassing. As a result, she was formally indicted while in custody in charges of violating the Anti-Stalking Act and trespassing.

Police had also referred her on charges on attempted trespassing, claiming that CCTV footage showed her pressing the digital door lock keypad and pushing and pulling the side door seven times between December 7 and 27. However, prosecutors dismissed this charge after reviewing the footage and determining that the alleged conduct could not be clearly confirmed.