Court: "Reports of Kim Ki-duk's Sexual Assault Allegations Against Actress Are False"

Actress A Wins Lawsuit Against Media Company

the late director Kim Ki-duk

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] Actress A, who was cast as the female lead in the film "Moebius" directed by the late director Kim Ki-duk but withdrew midway, won a lawsuit against a media outlet that reported allegations of her sexual assault. The court ruled that the reports claiming that Director Kim sexually assaulted her on the premise of sexual intercourse were false, contrary to A's claims of harassment and other victimization.

According to the legal community on the 20th, the Civil Division 25 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Lee Gwan-yong) partially ruled in favor of writer and actress A in her lawsuit against three media outlets including SBS, demanding corrections and damages. The court ordered SBS and others to pay A 3 million won each. Since SBS and others did not file an appeal within the appeal period, this ruling was recently finalized as is. Earlier, in March 2018, A filed a damage claim of 50 million won each against SBS and others for reproducing reports based on the MBC PD Notebook episode "The True Face of a Master," which included her sexual violence victimization.

The court judged that the reports by SBS and others stating "actresses claimed to have been sexually assaulted by Director Kim" were false. The term "sexual assault" implies sexual intercourse, but the court found that A's actual claims involved "coercion" or "forced molestation" rather than sexual intercourse itself.

The court also ruled that SBS's reports stating "A claimed she was forced to film bed scenes not in the script by Director Kim during filming" were false. The basis for this judgment was that the scene A claimed she was forced to act in was originally not a male-female sexual scene. Additionally, the essence of A's allegations against Director Kim's misconduct was not about forced bed scenes but about being forced to perform unscripted acting. The court pointed out, "SBS and others caused many readers to have a negative perception that A initially accepted casting ignoring the characteristics of Director Kim's films and then acted out of line."

The court partially accepted the claim for damages. It stated, "A felt considerable shame and suffered from malicious comments from the public due to the false reports that she was raped by Director Kim," and recognized that "her personal rights were violated and she endured significant mental distress." However, considering that SBS deleted some reports upon A's request, the compensation amount was significantly reduced to 3 million won.

SBS and others argued that the reports were justified under the grounds of public interest and thus lacked illegality. However, the court rejected this claim, stating, "SBS and others indiscriminately reproduced similar articles repeatedly without proper verification of the MBC 'PD Notebook' broadcast content," and "even considering the social atmosphere surrounding the Me Too movement at the time, the illegality of the reports cannot be excused."

Meanwhile, Director Kim tested positive for COVID-19 in December last year while staying in Latvia and died while hospitalized there. Previously, Director Kim was summarily indicted for assault for slapping A on the cheek at the filming site of "Moebius," and a fine of 5 million won was confirmed in 2018. Although he was investigated by the police regarding sexual violence allegations, he was reportedly never formally prosecuted. However, A and others have maintained that "there are actual victims who were sexually assaulted."

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