American YouTuber jailed in South Korea

He has been handed a prison sentence

Internet personality, Johnny Somali, caused controversy after kissing a statue representing World War Two sex slaves.

He is the latest in a growing trend of influencer-type people causing public nuisance in the pursuit of virality.

The 25-year-old, whose real name is Ismael Ramsey Khalid, was handed a six-month prison sentence on Wednesday (15 April), as per BBC News.

The case refers back to an incident in November 2024, when Khalid posted a video of himself kissing and performing lap dances on the statute while visiting the country.

He has been barred from the country.

Khalid is known for his provocative content which has already seen him banned from multiple streaming platforms.

He has also been accused of harassing people while travelling in Japan and Israel.

A court in South Korea convicted Khalid of a number of charges which included being a public nuisance and distributing sexual deepfakes.

As per South Korean media, the court said: "The defendant repeatedly committed crimes against unspecified members of the public to generate profit via YouTube and distributed the content in disregard of Korean law."

The statue in question honours the almost quarter of a million women around Asia who were forced to be sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War Two.

Many of them were Korean, while others came from China, the Philippines, Indonesia and Taiwan.

These women have come to be known as 'Comfort Women', but in South Korea many refer to them as 'Grandma' in a sign of respect.

There are a number of statues across South Korea honouring these women, with many depicting a young woman seated in a chair.

The issue has been a contentious friction point in the past between South Korea and Japan, with the latter reluctant to fully acknowledge the full extent of events.

South Korea has long called for reparations from Japan.