Moon Joon-yong, Son of Moon, Partially Wins Second Trial Over 'Wanted Poster' Case

Court: "Infringement of Personality Rights... Must Compensate 7 Million Won"

Former President Moon Jae-in's son, Moon Jun-yong, partially won a damages lawsuit in the second trial against Jeong Jun-gil, former spokesperson of the Liberty Korea Party's Central Election Countermeasures Committee, who posted a wanted poster featuring him.

According to the legal community on the 17th, the Seoul High Court Civil Division 13 (Presiding Judges Moon Gwang-seop, Jeong Moon-gyeong, Lee Jun-hyun) ruled on the 12th, as in the first trial, that Jeong must pay Moon 7 million won in damages.

Moon Jun-yong, son of former President Moon Jae-in. Photo by Yonhap News

The court stated, "The defendant used excessively humiliating expressions such as 'wanted' and 'appearance' in the poster and briefing related to the case without specifying concrete facts or circumstances to judge preferential hiring, etc. Although the preferential hiring suspicion of the son of a prominent presidential candidate can be considered a matter of public interest, it is difficult to regard the plaintiff as having directly become a 'public figure.'"

Jeong, the former spokesperson, revealed a poster labeled "Moon Jun-yong National Wanted" ahead of the 19th presidential election in May 2017, when allegations of preferential hiring of Moon at the Korea Employment Information Service surfaced. The poster included a photo of Moon with his eyes mosaicked and phrases such as "The myth of employment of Moon Jae-in's son," "The soul of the free earring," and "Finding the person comes first."

Jeong also stated at a Central Election Committee briefing, "We declare a national wanted notice for Moon. Citizens who think that there should be no more irregular preferential hiring scandals involving silver spoons should report immediately."

In response, Moon filed a lawsuit demanding 30 million won in damages from Jeong. The first trial court ruled that the poster and briefing were merely expressions of opinion calling for clarification of the allegations and not defamation, but that they infringed on personal rights with excessively humiliating expressions, ordering 7 million won in damages.

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