Former Channel A reporter Lee Dong-jae said the guilty verdict for defaming broadcaster Kim Ou-joon was possible because prosecutors had the authority to request supplementary investigations, enabling indictment and punishment.
Lee posted an article on Facebook titled "Kim Ou-joon tripped up by supplementary investigation" and disclosed how Kim was indicted after police decided not to refer the case and prosecutors requested a reinvestigation.
In Feb. 2022, Lee filed a complaint against Kim with the Seongbuk Police Station in Seoul on charges including defamation under the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection. However, police then decided not to send the case to prosecutors.
Lee said police at the time noted, "Even to me, it seems Kim Ou-joon intentionally spread it, but it's hard to send the case with an indictment opinion."
The case moved again when prosecutors demanded a reinvestigation. In Jan. 2023, prosecutors asked police to further investigate Kim's case, and after a supplementary probe, police referred it to prosecutors in September that year.
Lee said, "(Only then) I remember the Head of Team in charge of the case saying, 'I think I misread the evidence back then. Regardless of the reason, I'm sorry.'"
He also assessed that Kim's guilty verdict resulted from prosecutors' authority to request supplementary investigations. Lee said, "If there had been no prosecutorial command over investigations and authority to request supplementary investigations, Kim Ou-joon would have obtained a free pass and been able to engage in similar spreading false information as much as he wanted."
On the 14th, the single-judge Criminal Division 14 of the Northern Seoul District Court fined Kim 20 million won for repeatedly broadcasting false information about the former reporter and defaming him.
Kim was brought to trial on charges that from Apr. to Oct. 2020, on YouTube and radio, he claimed, "Former reporter Lee threatened former SillaJen CEO Lee Cheol to 'say you gave money to Rhyu Si-min.'"
During the trial, Kim denied the charges, saying it was "an expression of opinion, not for the purpose of slander," and claimed he "quoted a Facebook post written by former Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Choe Kang-wook."
The court, however, determined that "(Kim) spoke with the intent to slander the victim, knowing it was false."
Choe, the former lawmaker who was indicted on charges of writing the post Kim said he quoted, received a finalized fine of 10 million won at the Supreme Court on July 17 last year.