Supreme Court Ruling: “Public Servants Should Proactively Confirm Facts For Media“

Public servants should proactively seek to address the concerns raised by the press, the Supreme Court said in a recent ruling.

Part three of the court reversed the ruling of the appellate court in a libel lawsuit filed by a former government prosecutor identified by his last name Jo, 42 years old, against a news reporter, 35 years old, of Munhwa Broadcasting Company (MBC), identified by his last name Yi, for 500 million won in damages for Yi’s biased coverage, said the Supreme Court. The highest court sent the case back to the appellate court for reconsideration.

“Asked about the chance of double jeopardy in a lawsuit by the defendant who was a reporter, the plaintiff, who was a prosecutor in charge, repeatedly answered, ‘It was a simple mistake. Why would a reporter want to confirm such a thing? Are you a police investigator?’ and made it difficult to confirm facts,” said the court. “While it is understood that Jo has defamed the plaintiff’s reputation through his new reports, there is sufficient reason to believe that what he reported was true and that it was within the limits of the press’s monitoring function for the public official community.”

In 1998, the former prosecutor brought fraud charges against a man identified by his last name, Cho, following a complaint filed by a man identified by his last name of Park. However, Jo did not know Park had filed criminal and civil complaints respectively with the police and the prosecution.

Cho, who was tried twice for the same case, resorted to MBC, but lied to the reporter, saying, “When I said I could show him a court ruling [of criminal charges], the prosecutor did not believe me.”

While Jo tried to explain the sequence of events to Yi for 40 minutes, he repeatedly said, “It was a simple mistake. Because Jo’s and Cho’s allegations are in contradiction of each other, Yi filed a report titled ‘A Helpless Prosecutor’ for the MBC’s Nine O‘clock News about Jo’s refutations against Cho’s allegations.

“The monitoring and watchdog functions of the press must not be limited unless there are malign intentions or a considerable lack of appropriation in accusations.”

The local and appellate courts ruled respectively the 100 million won and 60 million won damages be awarded against Yi for his negligence in the confirmation of his facts.

Kang-Myoung Chang tesomiom@donga.com