'Sewol Ferry Insult' Cha Myung-jin Ordered to Pay 1 Million Won Compensation Per Bereaved Family Member

Ordered to Pay Damages for Abusive Remarks Toward Sewol Ferry Victims' Families
Court: "Contains Numerous Personal Attacks... Malicious Criticism and Mockery Intended"

Former Liberty Korea Party (now People Power Party) lawmaker Cha Myung-jin, who was indicted for making abusive remarks to the Sewol ferry victims' families, was ordered to pay damages on the 22nd.

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyun-joo] The court has ordered former Liberty Korea Party (now People Power Party) lawmaker Cha Myung-jin to pay damages for making offensive remarks to the families of the Sewol ferry disaster victims.

On the 22nd, the Civil Division 2 of the Bucheon Branch of the Incheon District Court (Presiding Judge Lee Jeong-hee) ordered Cha (60) to pay 1 million won in consolation damages to each of the Sewol ferry victims' families. Accordingly, Cha must pay a total of 126 million won to the 126 families who filed the lawsuit.

Cha is accused of posting derogatory comments about the Sewol ferry victims' families on Facebook on April 15 last year, one day before the 5th anniversary of the Sewol ferry disaster. In his Facebook post, he wrote, "The Sewol ferry victims' families. They shamelessly exploit the public's sympathy over their children's deaths, consuming it greedily, and even worse, they pick the bones clean. They have selfishly pocketed all the social tears as their personal gain."

The court stated, "The defendant's post on Facebook, made one day before the 5th anniversary of the Sewol ferry disaster, can identify individual members of the group known as the Sewol ferry victims' families, and the post contains numerous personal attacks, identifying the plaintiffs as victims of defamation."

It added, "Considering the defendant's specific choice of words and manner of description, it is difficult to find any attitude of respect or consideration towards the Sewol ferry victims' families. The post shows an intention not to raise sound criticism but to maliciously insult and ridicule."

Furthermore, the court noted, "Considering that the post was cited and reported in numerous media articles, that the defendant, as a former member of the National Assembly, was aware that his social media posts could be reported in the news, and that he deleted the post within an hour and issued an apology."

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