Tag: libel

This is one of these only in Korea stories:

South Korean police raided the Ministry of National Defense on Wednesday as part of an investigation into a claim made by a former spokesperson for the ministry that a fortuneteller had been involved in the relocation of the presidential residence to Yongsan in central Seoul.

Investigators from the cyber bureau of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency were sent to confiscate evidence, including vehicle entry records, to determine if the fortuneteller had visited the ministry’s premises in Yongsan in advance.

Former Defense Ministry spokesman Boo Seung-chan has claimed in a book that the fortuneteller was involved when Yoon was considering where to relocate the presidential residence and office in March last year.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but it should be easy to determine if this so called fortune teller was allowed to run around the Defense Ministry building with the video and vehicle records they have there. If they don’t find any evidence this will help with the libel complaints that the Yoon administration has lodged.

Could you imagine the amount of lawsuits if the U.S. had the same libel laws as South Korea? Cable news as we know it would have to end which would probably be a good thing.

This here is a perfect example of a lawmaker passing on fake news to attack the President’s wife with for political gain:

The presidential office filed a complaint with the police against main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) Rep. Jang Kyung-tae for “spreading false information” about photos taken earlier this month during first lady Kim Keon-hee’s visit with a Cambodian child suffering a congenital heart disease. The presidential office complained that Jang had described the first lady’s photo shoot as a “concept shoot using at least two or three lights and other on-site studio-level equipment.”

Rep. Jang had stirred up debate over his remarks that Kim’s photo shoot amounted to “poverty porn,” or the exploitation of people in impoverished conditions to garner sympathy or support for a cause, and that it was a diplomatic discourtesy as she met the child instead of attending an official program organized at the same time for spouses of visiting world leaders. He is now under investigation by the National Assembly’s ethics committee. 

The presidential office said it filed a complaint against Jang with the police for his remarks during a Nov. 18 DPK Supreme Council member meeting and subsequent Facebook posting. (……)

During the meeting, Jang supported his claims, saying that “foreign media and photography experts analyze the photo of Kim Keon-hee as having been taken with at least two to three lights to create an on-site studio, as a concept photo shoot, rather than being a photograph taken of the natural volunteering process.” It later turned out he was citing a posting on the U.S.-based global web forum Reddit, which had since been deleted.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This guy is lucky he only got fined because there were conservative journalists thrown in jail after their libel suits:

Rhyu Si-min, a former health minister and an influential liberal commentator, was sentenced to a fine of 5 million won (US$4,000) by a court Thursday for defamatory comments made years ago about Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon.

The Seoul Western District Court handed out the monetary penalty after convicting Rhyu of defaming Han by making false remarks about him in public between 2019 and 2020 when the minister was serving as a senior prosecutor.

Rhyu, who formerly headed a foundation memorializing late former President Roh Moo-hyun, was indicted in May last year for alleging on his YouTube channel in December 2019 and in a media interview in July 2020 that a prosecution department led by Han at that time illegally accessed his personal bank account and that of the memorial foundation sometime between late November and early December 2019.

Han, picked last month by President Yoon Suk-yeol as his administration’s first justice minister, was serving as head of the Supreme Prosecutors Office’s Anti-Corruption & Organized Crimes Department when Rhyu alleged the illegal account accesses occurred.

“(Han) appears to have suffered considerable psychological pain from the defendant’s remarks, as he was recognized as a prosecutor who abused his investigative power for an unjust purpose,” the Seoul court said, noting Rhyu may have considerable influence in the formation of public opinion, particularly as a YouTuber with more than 1 million subscribers.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Another Korean journalist is heading to jail and yet the international media doesn’t seem to even care:

Another journalist, Woo Jong-chang (우종창, 63), is jailed in South Korea after being convicted of the “crime” of “libel” for announcing “false information.”  On July 17, 2020, Judge Ma Seong-yeong (마성영) (with judges Kim Young-hwan 김영환 and Yoon Jeong-un 윤정운 on the team) of the Seoul Northern District Criminal Court sentenced journalist Woo Jong-chang to eight months in jail for libel and “Violation of the Act on Promotion of Information and Communication Network Utilization and Information Protection” and imprisoned him.  When the sentence was announced, a woman sitting in the court yelled out, “Is this a dictatorship? How can this happen?”

Judge Ma Seong-yeong stated, “As a journalist, he did not even go through the process of confirming the minimum facts and forced false information through broadcasting.” 

East Asia Research Center

I highly recommend that everyone read the whole article from Dr. Tara O at the link. If what Woo reported on his Youtube channel from a tip he received is true it would be very problematic for the Blue House.

However, could you imagine what would happen to the U.S. news media if every tip they reported on led to them being prosecuted for libel and put in jail?

Charges of libel from Twitter messages from the wife of Gyeongi province Governor Lee Jae-myung have been dropped, but it appears unsurprisingly that Governor Lee was the primary target of the prosecutors all along: 

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung will stand trial for telling falsehoods about a series of allegations raised against him and about his family during his election campaign for the governorship. 
The Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Lee without physical detention on charges of violating the national election law, it said.
Lee has been under investigation for allegedly lying about his brother’s institutionalization due to a mental illness during his campaign in the runup to the June local elections. 
He denied when he appeared on TV debates as a governor candidate that he had used his authority as the then Seongnam mayor to have his now-deceased brother institutionalized against his will.
The governor also faced accusations after an actress claimed she had an extramarital affair with Lee. Prosecutors decided to not press any charges against Lee, citing insufficient grounds.
“It’s what I expected. I’m not baffled,” he told reporters following the prosecution announcement.
Lee also hinted that he would not give up his seat over the indictment and will fight the matter in court. 
“I still am a proud member of the Democratic Party. I will do my utmost to not cause any more trouble for the party,” he said

You can read more at the link, but Governor Lee was a major rival to current President Moon Jae-in during the last election.  The Moon administration has effectively eliminated him now as a future political rival. 

The judge sentenced all 4 journalists to jail. Byun Hee-jai: 2 yrs, Hwang: 1 yr. Lee & Oh 6 mos. ea.+2 yrs probation+$4,454 fine ea. It was too much to expect a fair trial. Victims of the Moon Jae-in admin’s lawfare. A terrible day for #FreedomofthePress #RuleofLaw https://t.co/MtPiqqyeuE

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) December 10, 2018

Prosecutor Hong Seong-joon asked for 5 years jail for journalist Byun Hee-jai, already jailed prior to trial. For libel! This shouldn't be prosecuted at all, much less 5 yrs. Not guilty would delegitimize #MoonJaein govt. Breakdown in #RuleOfLaw. Suppression of #FreedomofthePress https://t.co/qhMbVnPgzT

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) December 5, 2018

Dr. Taro O has an update on the prosecution of South Korean journalist Byun Hee-jae who was jailed for writing something true.  The crux of the matter really comes to the authenticity of the PC Tablet that led to the impeachment of former President Park:

It turned out, according to the prosecutor’s own forensic report, that the tablet PC was not legitimate evidence of the alleged activity.  There were no edited files in the tablet, despite JTBC’s claims, which said Choi carried the tablet PC around and edited documents, including the Dresden speech.  Incidentally, Park gave the Dresden speech on March 18, 2014.  The Dresden speech file found in the tablet was loaded onto the tablet on March 27, 2018, which is after the fact, and it was a .gif file.  Additionally, the tablet did not even have editing software (HWP software), so there was no capability to edit the Korean language document. (17:11)  The records show that there was software for viewing only, which was loaded in November 2012 and was used to view documents until January 2013, and nothing after that, until 8 a.m., October 18, 2016–8 hours before JTBC “found” the tablet.   (17:11)

The forensic report was 700 pages long and difficult to understand.  (Byun, 119)  The report findings were inconclusive as to who owned the tablet. In fact, the tablet was set up by Kim Han-soo (김한수),former Blue House executive officer.  Kim Han-soo went to SK Telecom on June 22, 2012 and opened an account for the tablet under his company’s name “Malay Company.” (1:23)  This was around the time of the presidential elections.  On October 8, 2017, Shin Hye-won (신혜원) came forward to say the tablet is hers–that she was the primary user.  Shin worked on then-candidate Park Geun-hye’s campaign in 2012.  She saw in the media various photos, documents, and phone numbers found in the tablet and recognized them.  Even Ko Young-tae (고영태), a key witness who helped the special prosecutor during the impeachment trial, stated “I understand that she [Choi] is not the type of person who can use a tablet PC,” placing doubt on the claim that the tablet belongs to Choi or that she used it.  Choi has also said the tablet does not belong to her, that she does not even know how to use it, that she has never even seen the tablet in question, and asked to see the tablet.  (1:40) The court never showed her the tablet. (1:54)

Despite these and other facts that raise serious questions about the integrity of JTBC’s claim that the tablet is Choi’s and that Choi edited the documents, thereby “having the monopoly of the state affairs”–Gukjeong Nongdan–the National Assembly used the tablet as the “evidence” to impeach Park.  Thus Park was impeached based on an absurd, illogical accusation incited by JTBC and the media that stirred up the Korean people’s passions.  [East Asia Research Center]

The authenticity of the Tablet PC is something I have long questioned because it just didn’t make any sense when looked at objectively.  However, it appears that the fix may be in to convict Byun Hee-jae:

Byun Hee-jai has asked judge Park Joo-young for further examination of the tablet to try to determine who it belongs to.  Of seven witnesses Byun asked for, the judge allowed only two journalists from JTBC–Seo Bokyun (서복현) and Cho Taek-soo (조택수), and rejected Choi Seo-won, Shin Hye-won, Ko Young-tae, Kim Hans-soo, and No Seung-gwon (노승권) (former prosecutor who lied that the file was in the tablet when it was not) as witnesses.  (1:15) It seems pretty clear that the tablet does not belong to Choi.  At minimum, there are serious questions whether the tablet is Choi’s or not.  As stated above, the prosecutor’s report is inconclusive.  Yet prosecutor Hong Seong-joon maintains that the tablet belongs to Choi Seo-won.

If the verdict is not reached by the expiration date of the trial, which is early December, Byun must be released from jail.  (1:45) There are signs that the trial is being rushed in order to reach a decision prior to that date–the judge rejected other requests from the accused, including putting the key witnesses on the stand, as stated above, and not allowing an examination to try to determine who owns the tablet.  The judge seems set to make a decision without hard evidence.

I recommend reading the whole article at the link, but the Moon administration has been able to silence the Druking investigation into online opinion tampering, so I would not be surprised if they are able to silence Byun Hee-jae and other conservative journalists reporting on the Tablet PC as well through the libel laws.  I hope I am pleasantly surprised and the judge drops the charges against Byun, but I guess we will see what happens in the coming weeks.

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.

Yet more libel cases to silence critics. #SouthKorean prosecutor seeks 1 year jail sentence each for #journalist Kim Se-ui & #cartoonist Yoon Seo-in. The former was making a comment on social media. #FreedomOfPress. #FreedomOfSpeechhttps://t.co/uRe0rpphze

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) September 12, 2018