Court: "'Cheong' Security Officer's Report on Kim Jung-sook's Swimming Lessons Is a Reasonable Inference"

First Lady Kim Jung-sook, wife of President Moon Jae-in [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Jo] The Presidential Security Service filed a lawsuit in response to media reports claiming that a security officer gave personal swimming lessons to First Lady Kim Jung-sook, wife of President Moon Jae-in, but lost the case.

According to the legal community on the 20th, the Civil Division 25 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Lee Gwan-yong) ruled against the Presidential Security Service in a defamation correction and damages claim lawsuit filed against the Chosun Ilbo. Previously, on April 10 last year, Chosun Ilbo published an article titled "The Special Mission of the Blue House Security Officer is Swimming Lessons for the First Lady," reporting that "First Lady Kim Jung-sook received swimming lessons inside the Blue House from female security officer A for over a year starting in 2018." The report also included that "Officer A was unusually quickly assigned to the family protection unit due to her swimming skills, allowing her to closely guard the First Lady."

The Presidential Security Service filed the lawsuit, claiming, "Officer A only worked as a safety officer at the swimming pool for the presidential family and did not provide swimming lessons to the First Lady." However, the court pointed out that the Security Service failed to provide specific reasons other than swimming skills for Officer A’s unusually rapid assignment to the family protection unit, and judged the article’s content as a 'reasonable inference,' dismissing the Security Service’s claim.

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