The Supreme Court has ruled that it is not libelous to just tell someone else that you are divorced.
The Supreme Court reversed the lower court's judgment of a fine of 1 million won in the appeal of Mr. A in his 50s, charged with defamation, and returned the case to the lower court.
A, a local public official, was investigated for participating in a village ritual for a divorced local resident in 2019 and telling other residents that there were many negative reviews from people or that he did not know why the divorced person came.
The first and second trial courts sentenced A to a fine of 1 million won, saying that Mr. A's remarks contained negative expressions or criticisms about divorce and were defamatory.
But the Supreme Court decided otherwise.
I saw that Mr. A's remarks were merely an expression of his intention to participate in village rituals, not the timely information of specific facts that infringe on the social value or evaluation of the victim.
In addition, it was judged that speaking of divorce due to a change in social perception cannot be seen as degrading a person's social evaluation.