Cho Kuk loses again in 2nd trial against media outlet over report on his support appeal for Song Cheol-ho

Former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, who has been indicted on charges of entrance exam fraud and covering up an inspection, is attending a trial held on October 14 at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk filed a lawsuit for damages against a media company that reported he requested support for Song Cheol-ho, then the Democratic Party candidate for Ulsan mayor, during his tenure as Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs, but he lost the case in both the first trial and the appeal.

On the afternoon of the 3rd, the Civil Division 8-1 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judges Kwon Soon-min, Kim Bong-won, Kang Seong-hoon) ruled against Cho in the appeal trial of the 300 million won damages claim he filed against six reporters from TV Chosun, Channel A, and others, just as in the first trial.

Earlier, TV Chosun and Channel A reported in November 2019 that Cho, then Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs, visited a temple in Ulsan ahead of the 2018 local elections and asked for support for candidate Song.

Cho’s side argued, "He never visited Ulsan at that time nor met candidate Song," and claimed, "The article appears to have been based on an interview with only one informant." They then filed a damages claim against the reporters who published the related articles in September last year.

On the other hand, the reporters argued that "there were substantial reasons to believe the article’s content was true."

The first trial found that Cho did not sufficiently prove that the article’s content was false. The court stated at the time, "The reports cannot be considered illegal," and "even if there are somewhat exaggerated expressions, they cannot be regarded as false facts."

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