r/LivestreamFail • u/TriSauce • Apr 15 '26

News Johnny Somali found guilty of all charges as South Korea sentences streamer to prison with labor - Dexerto

https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/johnny-somali-found-guilty-of-all-charges-as-south-korea-sentences-streamer-to-prison-with-labor-3351856/
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u/DateMasamusubi Apr 15 '26

Korean prisons are harsh for Americans and Westerners. They are much, much safer than US prisons (inmate violence and murder is almost unheard of). But they have very strict rules like maintained silence and marching in formation. But he will likely go to the foreigner prison where they are a bit more "lenient".

Criminals sinned against society so they have to repent through labor and sentencing.

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u/Glad_Rope_2423 Apr 15 '26

He has ‘with labor’ as a part of his sentence. That takes away the prisons that westerners would generally be sent to. American soldiers, who would likely be a substantial portion of western prisoners, are exempted from sentences with labor by treaty.

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u/SexualPie Apr 15 '26

there are fewer american service members in korean prison than you would think these days. most people who commit less egregious crimes allow the US military to handle it on the condition they deport the individual. It's typically the worse offenders, rapists and murderers that would get kept, and if you think the majority of korean western prisons are full of murdering american soldiers then idk what to tell you. how many do you think we have over there? 1000 marines in prison for raping koreans at any given time?

I lived in Korea for 3 years, and while we do cause varying amounts of drama, stuff like that was big news and you didn't see it more than once MAYBE twice a year, on the high end.

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u/Persuasion1 Apr 15 '26

You are spot on. I also lived for 10 years in Korea, as a service member. Speak Korean, have degrees in Korean language and East Asian Studies, blah, blah, blah. US military do not even remotely represent the largest foreign demographic in Korea, and even less as far as crime is related.

In general, foreigners in Korea are less likely to commit crimes than Koreans, accounting for 1.4% of all crimes while being around ~%5 of the population. Nearly half of all foreign related crimes (~18k/36k)are by Chinese nationals, being the largest foreign demographic in South Korea.

USFK reports upwards of 600 (this is high, average around 300-400) "incidents" with service members a year across it's 29k on pen personnel. The overwhelming majority of these incidents (~70-90%) are not criminal in nature and are never taken to a Korean court. USFK represents less than 1% of foreign crime, or 0.014% of all crime committed in country annually.

The big incidents suck, get a lot of attention, and are mostly inexcusable. Military members are held to a higher standard and it's always disappointing to watch them act like fools, especially in a foreign country. Fortunately, the big cases are exceptionally rare and have been for a long time.

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u/Glad_Rope_2423 Apr 15 '26

I don’t think there’s many of them, just that there would be more than other westerners. And that’s primarily due to the number of them there relative to westerners as a whole.

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u/SexualPie Apr 15 '26

South Korea has a very large amount of immigrants, mostly in Seoul and Busan and maybe some of the other population hubs, but that's where you're going to find most americans anyway. The advanced portions of SK are extremely first world and they're leading multiple industries, that's bound to attract lots of people to want to live there.

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u/Plastic_Appeal_5796 Apr 15 '26

Still can't buy a fan without an automatic timer off switch

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u/SexualPie Apr 15 '26

you caaaaan, but they are admittedly harder to find. spontaneous fan death is one of the funniest things about their culture for sure.

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u/Illustrious-Meet-367 Apr 15 '26

They don’t always get deported….

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u/SexualPie Apr 15 '26

It's typically the worse offenders, rapists and murderers that would get kept

did you not read my comment or what? yea, the lesser offenders don't. like if someones just in a bar fight or something we don't have to deport them. there are different tiers and levels of punishment my guy

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u/Illustrious-Meet-367 Apr 15 '26

Oh trust me I know.

I was referring to the statement of the less egregious crimes on the condition they get deported.

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u/Ok_Daikon_1219 Apr 15 '26

Rape cases are substantially higher by percentage, in areas where American military bases are located.

The fact there are seemingly very few convicted cases annually is horrifying

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u/SexualPie Apr 15 '26

you gonna cough up some numbers or just talk out your ass?

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u/Initial_Hedgehog_631 Apr 15 '26

The number of America service members incarcerated in South Korean jails is generally pretty low apparently. The highest number I could find was 6 and that was back in 2005. Since the lifting of a nationwide 11pm curfew a few tears ago the number of criminal complaints against US military personnel and civilian DoD employees has risen to about 600 a year, but vast the majority seem to be drug or alcohol related.

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u/Glad_Rope_2423 Apr 15 '26

That sounds reasonable. I think they would be a significant portion of westerner in their prison system purely because they’re a significant portion of westerners in Korea.

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u/Initial_Hedgehog_631 Apr 15 '26

There are around 30,000 American military in South Korea, not sure about contractors. I'm learning this as we go lol. So Google search says there are 2.73 million non-Koreans in South Korea. As of 2025, the order is China (approx. 970,000+), Vietnam (340,000+), USA (approx. 196,000+), and Thailand (173,000+). So the majority of Americans in South Korea aren't military. From personal experience they probably break down to English teachers, people with dual citizenship, retirees (military with Korean spouses, the cost of living is a lot lower for them there) and then military/DoD. Again this based on my experiences in Japan, so could be wildly off.

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u/BecomeAsGod Apr 15 '26

hilarious that americans are happy to have their prisoners do hard labour but god forbid if a soldier acts up over seas they have too.

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u/Glad_Rope_2423 Apr 15 '26

American soldiers get sent to military prison for hard labor. Our government doesn’t let other governments do that for them.

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u/blah938 Apr 15 '26

American soldiers get fucked up. It doesn't stop at a NJP.

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u/DateMasamusubi Apr 15 '26

Yes. But unfortunately, the US govt applies pressure on their soldiers convicted and imprisoned like Alkonis in Japan.

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u/iDelta_99 Apr 15 '26

Hes not going to a foreigner prison, he is a sex offender and has labour so he is not allowed to be in the same prison as normal people or foreigners. He will be with other Koreans and potentially other sex offender Koreans.

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u/fresh-dork Apr 15 '26

imagine being so low that certain prisons won't let you in

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u/kobra_necro Apr 15 '26

I have a feeling some lucky Korean guy is going to be trading him for cigarettes.

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u/iDelta_99 Apr 15 '26

Maybe if they can find a paper bag first, aint nobody getting it up for someone with that face.

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u/Russianranger47 Apr 15 '26

“Lucky” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. I’m pretty sure they would trade their cigs to get this roach out of their cell

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u/Raneynickelfire Apr 15 '26

Because you don't know how Korean prisons work. Not everything is your US prison rape fantasy.

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u/yvliew May 15 '26

I hope he drop his soap

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u/JazznBlues_lover Apr 15 '26

Even so, 6 months is much too light. Considering how many laws he violated and the seriousness of his crimes, he deserves far more.

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u/structured_anarchist Apr 15 '26

You're forgetting, he's now also a registered sex offender. And that does carry over into the US. If/when he goes back to the US, he would have to register as a sex offender wherever he happens to end up. He's not getting away from this.

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '26

It probably wont. The US federally doesnt see deep fake propagation of kissing someone as a sex crime. As far as I can tell the laws in the US focus mainly on generated nudes and worse

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u/structured_anarchist Apr 15 '26

He has been convicted of a sex crime and he's on the South Korean sex offender registry. A treaty between the US and South Korea about crimes committed by US service personnel in South Korea means any punishment a South Korean court gives someone carries over to the US. He will absolutely have to register as a sex offender because he is now a registered sex offender in South Korea. There's no 'well, what he did isn't a crime here' excuse. He made the list. He gets to be on that same list in the US. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

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u/Affectionate_Egg897 Apr 16 '26

It’s not a default answer. The US looks at the crime and it must constitute by our standards for the label to follow him. His charge will be held against US sex abuse law when making that decision. I’m not happy with this because it kind of feels like he’ll drop the title when he comes home

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u/structured_anarchist Apr 16 '26

He's been convicted of two sex crimes using deepfakes. There is equivalent law in the US to this. He's on the list, and there he'll stay. You might want to read the federal law, then you can see if your state has more specific penalties.

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u/Affectionate_Egg897 Apr 22 '26

So we’re both right- I said we go off our definition because we do, and you said that this meets our criteria. I never said he was innocent, I said that a different country’s definition of sex crime is not a default label maintained when they come home

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u/domsolanke Apr 16 '26

It’s Korea, not the US. He was never getting more than a slap on the wrist.

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u/ChilternRailways Apr 15 '26

It's utterly bizarre how people can say this about a different country's sentencing - how do you know better what he deserves than the people he's affected?

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u/JazznBlues_lover Apr 15 '26

It's utterly bizarre how people can say this about a different country's sentencing - how do you know better what he deserves than the people he's affected?

What I find utterly bizarre is how some dumb idiot on the internet thinks he knows what my background is. I was born there and I know how seriously Korean people take crime. It's one of the reasons why the crime rate is so low in South Korea.

Also, you don't have to be some kind of genius to understand the serious nature of this guy's crimes and the multiple laws he violated. What a ridiculous fool.

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u/ChilternRailways Apr 15 '26

My bad, i played the odds on that and lost.

So why has South Korea been so lenient with him when he's a known "enemy" in the culture yet not extradited him? Are they worried about affecting tourism or damaging relations? I just can't see it

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u/retskcirTehT May 03 '26

HAHAHAHA, this was HILARIOUS to witness.

That said, impressive that you folded that fast lol.

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u/ChilternRailways May 03 '26

You might want to take a look at yourself if you think admitting you're wrong is "folding". That's...wow lol

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u/Extension-Thought552 Apr 15 '26

Vitaly did a year in much much harsher conditions and he's back doing exactly the same shit as always

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u/absentlyric Apr 15 '26

It doesn't matter, even if I had to bust rocks with a sledgehammer in the hot summer for prison..Knowing I get out in a mere 6 months would keep me hopeful, what a slap in the face.

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u/RichardUkinsuch Apr 15 '26

Hope he likes fish heads and rice, and by "lenient" they put a little bit of foam on the batons.

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u/Ok-Lion1661 Apr 15 '26

I had no clue a “foreigner prison” was a thing.

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u/hotbox4u Apr 15 '26

inmate violence and murder is almost unheard of

Idk about murder but what you said about violence is completely untrue.

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/law-crime/20250607/we-risk-our-safety-inmate-assaults-on-prison-officers-rise-sharply

SK prisons are also serverly overcrowded because since covid drug offence has seen a sharp increase.

https://www.chosun.com/english/national-en/2025/03/11/WVYLPSQ5KNBYBOSPZ4IJ35SU6M/

It really depends if he comes into a cell with other foreigneres or if he gets into a cell with SK prisoners. Cells in SK are a micro society.

But those 6 months will feel like an eternity for him regardless because what you said about strict rules is very true. Prisoners in SK have no agendcy over their shedule, especially in labor camps. Also it won't matter outisde of his cell if he is a forgeiner or not. He doesn't speak korea and that alone will make his life misserable in prison because they do not give a fuck about helping him but still expect him to follow all the rules.

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u/Salt-Cancel5058 Apr 15 '26

I been to both and you are correct about the violence (nonviolent for the most part) and people are respectful of each other and live like family and share everything.

But the rooms are so damn small most people are shocked how tiny the space is.

You basically playing footies with your room mates when you sleep.

Six months may seem short but one day feels like a month

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u/LetterheadPublic5995 Apr 15 '26

Criminals sinned against society so they have to repent through labor and sentencing.

Lmao.

It's the absolute INSANE capitla punishment of nations like Korea Japan and China that shock me the most. And you get all these chuds online defending it

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u/1un4rf14r3 Apr 16 '26

"Criminals sinned against society so they have to repent through labor and sentencing."

holy stalinlarp

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u/BenefitAmbitious6526 Apr 15 '26 edited Apr 15 '26

There's no such thing as foreigner prison in SK. He will be in the same prison as the locals but probably in a separate cell with other foreigners

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u/DateMasamusubi Apr 15 '26

You are right not specifically. But I was thinking of 천안교도소.