"Investor Fined for Providing False Article Claiming Jo Byung-jin's Musical Unilateral Withdrawal Causes Damage"

Broadcaster Ju Byeong-jin

The chairman of a performance investment company was sentenced to a fine in the first trial for providing false information to a reporter, resulting in a defamatory article claiming that "Joo Byung-jin suddenly withdrew from a musical, causing losses."

According to the court on the 4th, Shin Hyuk-jae, chief judge of the Criminal Division 4 at the Seoul Central District Court, recently sentenced Mr. A (64, male), who was indicted for defamation by publication, to a fine of 3 million won.

Earlier, Mr. A was brought to trial on charges of deceiving reporter B, who called for an interview in April 2019, to have a defamatory article about broadcaster Joo Byung-jin published. Joo Byung-jin was originally scheduled to appear in a musical invested in by Mr. A's company for about a month starting from the end of 2018, but withdrew before the performance. Mr. A told reporter B that "he only conveyed the position of 'withdrawing due to personal reasons' and suddenly withdrew the day before the performance," adding, "Tickets were all sold out due to his appearance, but after he withdrew, the existing performance schedule was canceled and tickets were refunded." He also said, "Joo Byung-jin withdrew due to conflicts with the cast, such as having a big fight the day before the performance over advice from a fellow actor."

However, it was investigated that Joo Byung-jin withdrew after discussions and agreements with the production team about two weeks before the performance. Immediately after the article based on Mr. A's claims was published, Joo Byung-jin contacted reporter B and refuted, saying, "The fundamental reason for withdrawal is health-related," and "The biggest reason for withdrawal was that I was sick and could not attend rehearsals." Eventually, the article was somewhat revised to include Joo Byung-jin's position.

In court, Mr. A denied the charges. He argued, "Even if some expressions are exaggerated, the important parts correspond to objective facts," and "Informing this aligns with the public interest, so it is difficult to see that the defendant had the intent to defame."

However, the first trial did not accept Mr. A's claims. Although Mr. A invested funds in the performance, it was judged that he committed defamation after hearing from the producers that Joo Byung-jin would withdraw and anticipating damages from it.

Chief Judge Shin pointed out, "It is acknowledged that the victim was somewhat in conflict due to discord with a fellow actor," but added, "In reality, the victim did not unilaterally notify that he would not appear just before the performance, and there was no significant damage caused by cancellations of reservations due to withdrawal, yet the article was published without properly verifying the truth and with the intent to defame." "It is also difficult to consider the stated facts as related to the public interest."

Mr. A appealed this ruling.

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