Supreme Court Confirms Not Guilty Verdict for Former Chosun Ilbo Reporter Accused of Forced Molestation in the Late Jang Ja-yeon Case

Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The former Chosun Ilbo reporter accused of forcibly molesting the late Jang Ja-yeon has been acquitted with the verdict finalized.

The Supreme Court's 2nd Division (Presiding Justice Park Sang-ok) on the 28th upheld the lower court's not guilty verdict in the appeal trial of former reporter Jo Mo, who was charged with forcible molestation.

The court stated, "There is no error in the lower court's application of the law regarding the degree of proof required for a guilty verdict in a criminal trial and the procedures for identifying the perpetrator."

Jo was charged with inappropriate conduct toward Jang at a birthday party for Kim Jong-seung, the former CEO of Jang's agency, held at a karaoke room in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, in August 2008.

Investigations revealed that Jo forcibly molested Jang by pulling her wrist and making her sit on his lap.

The Bundang Police Station in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, during the investigation of Jang's death in 2009, forwarded Jo to the prosecution with a recommendation for indictment based on a suicide note mentioning the molestation and testimony from Jang's fellow actress Yoon Ji-oh, who attended the party.

However, the Seongnam branch of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office dismissed the case, citing a lack of credibility in Yoon's testimony.

Nine years later, in May 2018, the Ministry of Justice's Past Affairs Committee recommended reinvestigation, stating that the prosecution's investigation into Jo was insufficient. Subsequently, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office reopened the case and brought Jo to trial.

Both the first and second trials acquitted Jo, citing the unreliability of Yoon's testimony. The second trial court noted, "While the inference that Jo was the perpetrator of the molestation may seem plausible, there are issues in the process by which Yoon identified the perpetrator, making it difficult for the court to fully trust her testimony without doubt."

Meanwhile, alongside this ruling, the Supreme Court presented requirements for witness testimony. Noting that the credibility of the testimony from Jang's colleague Yoon was a key issue in this case, the court provided guidelines.

The Supreme Court emphasized, "To enhance the credibility of a witness's testimony in identifying a perpetrator, detailed records of the witness's descriptions of the perpetrator's appearance should be made in advance. The witness should be confronted simultaneously with the suspect and several others with similar appearances to identify the perpetrator. Additionally, the confrontation process and results should be documented in writing, including text and photographs, to allow for later evaluation of evidentiary value. The same principles should fundamentally apply to procedures involving photographic lineups for perpetrator identification."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.