An illustrator, a person surnamed Park, 51, who posted on social media (SNS) caricatures of reporters' faces with expressions such as "giregi" and "gideogi," was sentenced to a fine in the first trial. The court found that the post went beyond the bounds of legitimate criticism and constituted a personal attack.
According to legal sources on the 26th, Judge Kim Seon-beom of the single-judge Criminal Division 7 at the Seoul Northern District Court on the 14th sentenced Park, who was indicted on a charge of insult, to a fine of 2 million won.
From Dec. 2023 to Mar. 2024, Park was brought to trial on charges of drawing caricatures of 12 reporters' faces and posting them on her SNS account, along with the phrase "ㄱㄷㄱㅌㅊㅍㄹㅈㅌ (gideogi eradication project initials)" and listing their news outlets and real names. The posts also included hashtags such as "ㄱㄷㄱ (gideogi initials)," "giregi," "giregi caricature," and "giregi ten commandments."
Park's side argued during the trial that the expressions in question did not rise to the level of undermining the reporters' social evaluation and therefore did not constitute the crime of insult, and that "giregi" and "gideogi" were legitimate criticism that did not run counter to social norms.
However, the court said, "There was no proper mention of specific article content or reasons for criticizing the victims," and determined that "the post appears to focus more on personal attacks against the victims than on criticism of their articles or conduct."
Regarding sentencing, the court noted that the degree of insulting expressions used in Park's posts was not light and that neither the number of victims nor the number of offenses was small. It explained that it determined the sentence by considering, among other things, that Park had not been forgiven by the victims and that an appeal was pending after she had already been sentenced to a 2 million won fine for a similar offense.
This is not the first time Park has been involved in civil or criminal legal disputes. In 2022, she submitted to an exhibition hosted by the Seoul Federation of Artistic and Cultural Organizations a work that caricatured reporters in a ridiculous manner and overpainted them in red, and she was sued for damages by 22 reporters.
In June 2024, the Seoul Central District Court ruled partially in favor of the plaintiffs, ordering Park and the Seoul Federation of Artistic and Cultural Organizations to pay 1 million won each to the 22 reporters. At the time, the court said, "This is not legitimate criticism of the articles written, but constitutes appearance-based disparagement and personal attacks," and held that "it is hard to see it as protected by freedom of expression or as not running counter to social norms."
Also, in Jan. last year, Park was sentenced to a fine of 2 million won by the Uijeongbu District Court on an insult charge, and an appeal is pending in that case as well. After the ruling, she said in an interview with an online news outlet, "I spoke up to protect honor because I thought reporters lacked the ability to self-correct," and claimed, "This case should be a chance to fix the bad habits of the press."
Park has continued to post similar content until recently. In Dec. last year, she uploaded to SNS a caricature of a reporter who reported on actor Cho Jin-woong's "juvenile offender suspicion," adding hashtags such as "giregi" and "giregi caricature."
Meanwhile, in 2021, the Supreme Court, in a case involving a portal article comment that said, "Isn't this what you call giregi?" held that even if the expression "giregi" could be insulting, if it is used in the context of criticism of articles or reporter behavior and does not run counter to social norms, illegality may be excluded as a justifiable act under the Criminal Act.
Also, in 2024, in a case where a media company head was called a "big-shot giregi" in a comment, the court, while assuming it could constitute an insulting expression, overturned and remanded the case with a not-guilty intent, saying that a comprehensive judgment must be made on whether it was part of expressing opinions about public activity and whether it was excessively malicious or insulting in light of the circumstances before and after.