The Supreme Court has ruled that Koh Young-joo, former chairman of the Broadcasting Culture Promotion Association, who referred to former President Moon Jae-in as a 'communist' in the past, cannot be held liable for compensation.
The first division of the Supreme Court (Chief Justice Oh Kyung-mi) decided today (16th) that former President Moon had to pay 10 million won in alimony of 10 million won in a lawsuit filed by former President Moon against Koh in 2015 in Seoul. returned to the High Law.
In January 2013, at a New Year's Celebration by a conservative civic group, Koh said, referring to former President Moon Jae-in, who was the 18th presidential candidate of the Democratic United Party, "Moon is a communist, and if this person becomes president, it is only a matter of time before our country becomes a red flag." ' he said.
He also mentioned, "The Burim case was not a democratization movement, but a communist movement, and candidate Moon was well aware of this."
In 2015, former President Moon filed a lawsuit claiming 100 million won from Koh, saying, "Social evaluation has been seriously violated by remarks without rational basis."
The court of first instance ordered to pay 30 million won in alimony, saying, "The social reputation and reputation of the plaintiff (President Moon) has been greatly damaged."
The appeals court also said, "In view of the negative and fatal meaning of the expression 'communism' in our reality where inter-Korean confrontation and the National Security Act exist, no matter how public the plaintiff may be, even excessively emotional and degrading words cannot be recognized as freedom of expression." He acknowledged the responsibility of the former chairman of the board for compensation.
However, the Supreme Court dismissed the case, saying, "It is difficult to view the remarks as 'communists' as an expression of an opinion or position based on the experience of former chairman Koh, and that it is difficult to see specific facts that could damage the plaintiff's reputation."
The court said that Koh's remarks were "part of the verification process through the exchange of opinions and debates on the plaintiff's political ideology. It doesn't make sense," he pointed out.
Former Chairman Koh was already acquitted in a criminal case with the same content in February.
The Supreme Court returned the case, judging that the 'communist' remarks expressed a position on ideology or ideology, and that it was difficult to see concrete facts that could damage the reputation of the person, and returned the case.
A Supreme Court official said, "It is the same judgment as the criminal judgment that found that the crime of defamation cannot be established. To evaluate it as an illegal act, we decided that we should be careful.”
(Photo = Yonhap News)