Korean Cartoonist and Journalist Convicted of Libel Despite Publishing True Information

Dr. Tara O, one of my favorite Korea analysts, has an article published about the prosecution and eventual conviction of a cartoonist and journalist which is just another example of the war on conservative journalists by the Moon administration:

On September 11, 2018, the prosecutor proposed  a 1-year sentence each for Mr. Yoon Seo-in, a cartoonist, and Mr. Kim Se-ui, a journalist, for libel at the final hearing at the Seoul Central District Court presided by judge Choi Mi-bok  (최미복).

This libel lawsuit follows another libel lawsuit against a journalist, Mr. Byun Hee-jae, for defaming JTBC, a cable TV broadcaster.  JTBC aired the tablet PC story, which played a crucial role in the former president Park Geun-hye’s impeachment.  Byun has called out JTBC’s tablet PC story as fabricated. Byun’s characterization was corroborated by the special prosecutors’ own forensic report.  However, Byun was sued for libel, and the Seoul Central District Court jailed Byun prior to trial. It is an unusual move to jail a journalist in South Korea, especially prior to a trial, although numerous political opponents have been jailed prior to trial since early 2017.  Byun’s trial is currently underway.

Another worrisome event is that Moon’s Deoburreo Minju Party has submitted a “broadcast law reform” bill to regulate individuals who post videos on Youtube and other video sites as “mass media.”  If this bill becomes law, then the individuals who post videos become “subject to government review” and if it does not like them, the government can “simply get rid of them,” criticized National Assemblyman Kim Jin-tae, Liberty Korea Party.  This is after the Moon administration, along with Media Workers’ Union, took control over major broadcasters MBC and KBS.  [East Asia Research Center]

You can read the whole thing at the link, but just like Byun Hee-jae who was jailed for writing something true, Yoon and Kim put together a cartoon that was true and were convicted.

Seoul court fined a cartoonist Yoon Seo-in & journalist Kim Se-ui $6,150 each over a satire cartoon in a libel suit. The Moon administration dislikes them for speaking out about Moon's policy toward North Korea, economy, security, etc. #FreedomofSpeechhttps://t.co/hnRwcLCCUO

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) October 27, 2018

An interesting fact from the article was how the South Korean media that was taken over by the Korean left through labor union violence, has slanted their coverage of the story.  Even more interesting is that MBC after being taken over then had the architect of the phony US beef riots of 2008 put in charge as President.

You would think with the jailing and fining of journalists the international media would be rushing to cover this, but for one minor New York Times article there has been little coverage of this.