'Park Geun-hye Drug and Botox' Remarks... Supreme Court: "Not Defamation"

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The Supreme Court has ruled that the statement made by Park Raegun, a standing executive committee member of the 4·16 Solidarity, during the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster?"President Park Geun-hye was on drugs"?cannot be punished as defamation. Park was found guilty in the first and second trials.

On the 25th, the Supreme Court's 3rd Division (Presiding Justice Kim Jae-hyung) overturned the lower court's ruling that found Park guilty of defamation by stating false facts, acquitting him, and remanded the case to the Seoul High Court.

Park was accused of damaging former President Park's reputation by saying during a 2015 press conference, "We need to verify whether President Park was using drugs or receiving Botox injections. The Blue House should be searched to confirm if she was using drugs." Park was also accused of leading participants to occupy roads and assault police officers responsible for security at Sewol ferry disaster memorial rallies held in downtown Seoul, including Seoul Plaza, from July 2014 to May 2015.

The first and second trials sentenced Park to three years in prison with a four-year probation period and recognized the defamation charges as guilty. The court stated, "The defendant made statements without any reasonable basis during a protest against the search of the defendant's premises, unilaterally slandering former President Park by suggesting she might have been involved in criminal acts such as drug use, raising suspicions at the level of rumors circulating among the public," and thus found him guilty.

However, the Supreme Court viewed the case differently. The court ruled, "Even if the social evaluation of a public official involved in policy decisions or duties may be somewhat lowered, unless the statement is a malicious or grossly reckless attack on the individual public official that clearly loses its substantiality, the statement still concerns the public interest," and "It cannot be considered defamation against the individual public official."

Furthermore, the court explained, "In expressing the need to clarify former President Park's whereabouts, the statement presented widely spread suspicions," and "It is difficult to conclude that specific facts were stated claiming that former President Park was using drugs or receiving Botox injections and thus was unable to perform her duties."

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