American influencer jailed in South Korea after kissing memorial to Second World War sex slaves

Peter Stevens
Thu, 16 Apr 2026 06:17:43 +0000

An American influencer has been jailed in South Korea after kissing a memorial for Second World War sex slaves.

Ramsey Khalid, who is better known as Johnny Somali, caused an uproar after he filmed himself kissing and performing lap dances on a statue.

Authorities in Seoul charged the 25-year-old with public nuisance in November 2024 and barred him from leaving the country.

He was convicted on multiple counts on Wednesday and sentenced to six months in prison.

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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."

In addition to the charges relating to the statue, he was also found guilty of a special act of sexual violence crimes in relation to sexual deepfakes he made of a South Korean streamer.

Prosecutors had initially pushed for a three-year sentence, but the court gave him a lighter sentence on the basis he had not done "severe harm to victims".

After his release, he will face restrictions, including a ban on working with organisations that serve minors and people with disabilities.

He initially apologised in 2024, claiming he was not aware of the significance of the statue, which depicts a woman sitting in a chair.

The statue represents the estimated 200,000 women who were forced into sexual slavery as "comfort women" by Japanese soldiers during the Second World War.

The women were taken from countries throughout Asia, with the majority being from Korea.

The statues have previously caused diplomatic spats between Japan and South Korea.

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A 2015 Shinzo Abe issued an apology and gave South Korea $8.3million (£6.1million) in reparations to "finally and irreversibly" solve the issue, but several statues – including the one Johnny Somali disturbed – remain.

The comfort women were also taken from countries including Australia, the Netherlands, China, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Burma.

Khalid has been banned on multiple streaming platforms as a result of his antics.

Even as he was under investigation, he continued streaming and posted videos where he challenged locals to fight him.

He was also seen causing a disturbance on public transport and vandalising a convenience store.

He has previously been detained in Tel Aviv in 2024 after he made inappropriate remarks to a female police officer.

The influencer also taunted locals in Japan by talking about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 2023.

He was also fined £1,030 for disrupting a restaurant in Japan.