"Go Young-ju, Shameless" Song Il-jun, Former Gwangju MBC President... Acquittal Overturned and Remanded

Former President Song: "Late Chairman Ko, shameless, unscrupulous, deceptive" posted on SNS
Supreme Court: "Constitutes defamation, not exempted by social norms, 'illegality established'"

Ko Young-joo, former Chairman of the Korea Broadcasting Culture Promotion Foundation

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-joon] Song Il-jun, former president of Gwangju MBC, who was prosecuted for insulting former Broadcasting Culture Promotion Agency (Bangmunjin) chairman Ko Young-joo by using expressions such as “spy fabrication public prosecutor-turned-lawyer,” “shameless, unscrupulous, yangduguyuk,” will undergo a retrial in the second trial.

The Supreme Court ruled that expressions like yangduguyuk are commonly used metaphorically in daily life, media, and political spheres to express critical opinions about others, and thus do not violate social norms, eliminating their illegality.

The Supreme Court’s First Division (Presiding Justice No Tae-ak) on the 25th overturned the original ruling that suspended a 500,000 won fine and sent the case back to the second trial with a verdict of not guilty in the appeal trial of former president Song, who was prosecuted for insult.

Former president Song was prosecuted for posting on his Facebook, “As expected, he does not betray expectations of the far-right corrupt forces. He is supporting behind the scenes the Kim ○○ regime, which sat in the position of chairman of the Broadcasting Culture Promotion Agency, the supervisory body of the public broadcaster MBC, which should be held by a person representing the conscience and integrity of the Republic of Korea, and has entered a sit-in protest.”

The first trial recognized guilt and sentenced a suspended fine of 500,000 won. The second trial acquitted some charges but, like the first trial, sentenced a suspended fine of 500,000 won. A suspended sentence means that for offenders with minor crimes, the sentencing is postponed for a certain period, and if no specific incidents occur during that period, the sentence is waived.

However, the Supreme Court’s judgment differed. Although some expressions were recognized as insulting and met the elements of the crime of insult, the fact that former president Song made the expressions while writing a post containing his opinion related to former chairman Ko’s public activities is an act that does not violate social norms and is likely to be exempt from illegality under Article 20 of the Criminal Act.

Article 20 of the Criminal Act stipulates that acts performed under laws or duties, or other acts not violating social norms, are not punishable.

The court stated, “The original court’s judgment that (former president Song’s post content) constitutes insulting expressions and meets the elements of the crime is appropriate,” but also judged that “the defendant expressed his opinion related to the victim’s public activities in the post, and freedom of expression is emphasized more in the political sphere than in non-political areas.”

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