Police Decide Not to Prosecute YTN's 'Lee Dong-kwan Broadcast Accident'... "Case Closed with No Charges"

Regarding last year's incident where YTN mistakenly used a photo of former Broadcasting and Communications Commission Chairman Lee Dong-kwan as the background image during a news report on a stabbing rampage, the police have determined that there is no defamation charge.

Former Chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, Dong-kwan Lee. [Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 28th, the Mapo Police Station in Seoul announced that they decided not to prosecute the YTN news PD, graphic staff, and editing chief who were booked on defamation charges.

A police official explained, "After investigating based on evidence and legal principles, the case was closed with a 'no charge' decision."

On August 10th last year, at around 10:45 PM, YTN displayed a photo of former Chairman Lee on the background screen for about 10 seconds during the anchor commentary of news related to stabbing suspect Choi Won-jong in Bundang. The subtitle at the time read, "Apologizing but showing delusional symptoms, Choi Won-jong... psychopathy judgment impossible."

YTN explained at the end of the news, "This was a technical error caused by poor communication between the PD and technical staff in the news control room."

In response, former Chairman Lee's side claimed that their portrait rights, honor rights, and other personal rights were violated, filing a 300 million KRW damages lawsuit against YTN executives and employees, applying for evidence preservation, and filing a complaint with the Mapo Police Station in August of the same year.

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