Former President Lee Myung-bak Finally Loses MBC 'Slush Fund Allegation' Correction Lawsuit

1st and 2nd Trials "Difficult to Conclude Reported Content as False... For Public Interest"
Supreme Court "Area of Media Oversight and Criticism... Made Significant Efforts to Ensure Truthfulness"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] Former President Lee Myung-bak has ultimately lost a defamation correction lawsuit against MBC’s investigative program "Exploratory Planning Straight," which reported on his alleged overseas slush funds.

The Supreme Court’s 2nd Division (Presiding Justice Cho Jae-yeon) on the 11th upheld the lower court’s ruling that dismissed former President Lee’s appeal in the defamation correction lawsuit filed against MBC and others.

MBC’s "Straight" secured testimony in November 2018 in the episode titled "Remingbo’s Remittance ? Interim Report on MB’s Overseas Accounts," where a person named A, who shares the same name as a close aide of former President Lee, claimed that a figure called "Remingbo" (the Chinese pronunciation of Lee Myung-bak) tried to remit a large sum of dollars to him twice.

"Straight" mistakenly raised suspicion that some of former President Lee’s slush funds might have been attempted to be deposited into the account of the namesake A. The program also aired that it had obtained two account numbers suspected to contain former President Lee’s overseas slush funds.

In response, former President Lee filed a correction request and a lawsuit demanding 350 million won in damages in December 2018, but both the first and second trials rejected his claims. The courts ruled that "it is difficult to conclude that the broadcast contained false information, or that it was illegal as it was recognized to be for the public interest with reasonable content and means."

The Supreme Court also agreed with the lower courts’ judgment. The court stated, "The broadcast content admitted the failure to verify the authenticity of the tip or urged related investigations, which falls within the scope of media oversight and criticism, and the defendants made considerable efforts to ensure the truthfulness of the broadcast content."

Furthermore, the court judged, "Since it concerns matters of public interest related to a public figure (former president), such as suspicions and questions about the creation of slush funds, and includes the plaintiff’s counterarguments, it is recognized as having significant public interest and reasonable content and means for the public good, thus it is not illegal."

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