Prosecutors Indict Lawyer Jeong Cheol-seung on Charges of Revealing Personal Information of Park Won-soon Victim

Attorney Jeong Cheol-seung (53) has been brought to trial on charges of disclosing the identity of the victim in the sexual violence case involving the late former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon on social networking services (SNS).

Attorney Jeong Cheol-seung [Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the legal community on the 14th, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office's Women and Children Crime Investigation Division 2 (Chief Prosecutor Kim Bong-jun) recently indicted Attorney Jeong without detention on charges including violation of the Sexual Violence Punishment Act for revealing the victim's identity and private life, defamation under the Information and Communications Network Act, and violation of the Personal Information Protection Act.

Attorney Jeong is accused of posting multiple times on his Facebook around August 2021 content that could identify the victim in the sexual violence case involving former Mayor Park.

The posts contained personal details that could identify the victim, such as the victim’s department and duties, and included statements to the effect that "there is no physical evidence supporting the victim's claim of sexual harassment," and the victim filed a complaint against Attorney Jeong.

The prosecution judged that Attorney Jeong’s disclosure of the victim’s personal information and his claim that "there is no physical evidence of sexual harassment" constituted a breach of confidentiality and defamation against the victim, leading to his prosecution. However, some claims were considered mere "expressions of opinion" and were not prosecuted.

Previously, Attorney Jeong represented the family of former Mayor Park, including his wife Kang Nan-hee, in a lawsuit against the National Human Rights Commission but resigned during the litigation process according to the family's wishes. The first trial of this case ruled that it could be recognized that former Mayor Park sexually harassed the victim, resulting in a loss for Mrs. Kang. The family of former Mayor Park appealed the first trial verdict.

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