“Hwang Hee-seok, who claimed ‘Han Dong-hoon tracked the accounts of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation,’ has been sentenced to a fine”

Court: “Difficult to See Lack of Awareness of False Information… Recognized Intent to Defame”,
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Hwang Hee-seok, former supreme council member of the Open Democratic Party
[Photo by Yonhap News],
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, “(Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Hwang Yoon-ki = Hwang Hee-seok (57), a former supreme council member of the Open Democratic Party, who raised suspicions about the so-called ‘No Moo-hyun Foundation Account Tracking’ targeting People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon, has been sentenced to a fine.”,
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, ‘The Supreme Court’s 1st division (Presiding Justice Seo Kyung-hwan) on the 25th upheld the previous ruling that sentenced Hwang to a fine of 5 million won for defamation under the Information and Communications Network Act.’,
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, ‘The Supreme Court stated, “There is no error in the previous judgment regarding the legal principles related to the establishment of the crime of defamation under the Information and Communications Network Act.”‘,
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, “In November 2021, Hwang appeared on the TBS YouTube channel ‘Café Yujeong in front of the National Assembly’ and claimed that in September to October 2019, Han Dong-hoon, who was then the chief of the anti-corruption department of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, had tracked the accounts of the foundation targeting former director of the No Moo-hyun Foundation, Yoo Si-min.”,
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, “Additionally, Hwang raised suspicions that Han had engaged in the so-called ‘media-prosecution collusion’ with former Channel A reporter Lee Dong-jae to catch any corruption by former director Yoo.”,
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, ‘Han claimed to have never tracked the accounts of the No Moo-hyun Foundation or former director Yoo and filed a complaint against Hwang with the police in December 2021.’,
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, ‘In court, Hwang argued that his statements were expressions of opinion rather than facts, that he had no awareness of them being false, and that they were not intended to defame.’,
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, ‘However, both the first and second trial courts found Hwang guilty.’,
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, ‘The appellate court stated, “Considering the objectively revealed circumstances at the time of the statement, it is difficult to see that the defendant had no awareness of the false information,” adding, “The purpose of defamation is also recognized given the relationship between the defendant and the victim.”‘,
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, ‘Although Hwang appealed, the Supreme Court also found no error in the appellate court’s decision.’,
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, ‘Separately from the complaint, Han has filed a civil lawsuit demanding 200 million won in damages against Hwang and TBS, which is currently ongoing at the Seoul Central District Court.’,
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, ‘Before Hwang, former director Yoo, who made similar allegations, was also brought to trial and was fined 5 million won by the Supreme Court last June. He apologized in January 2021, saying, “I raised allegations without sufficient evidence.”‘,
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, ‘water@yna.co.kr’,
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