Lee Jae-myung Loses Second Trial Over Defamation Claim for 'Development Mafia' Remark by Private Developer in Hyeondeok District

Former leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, Lee Jae-myung, lost again in the appellate court in a damages lawsuit filed by an initial private developer involved in the development of the Hyeondeok district in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, who claimed defamation after Lee used the term "development mafia" during his tenure as governor of Gyeonggi Province.

The Civil Appeals Division 6-2 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judges Ji Sang-mok, Park Pyeong-gyun, Go Chung-jeong) on the 11th dismissed the appeal filed by Company A, the initial private developer of the Hyeondeok district development, against former Governor Lee, upholding the first-instance ruling that rejected Company A's claim for damages amounting to 100 million KRW.

Lee Jae-myung, former leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is declaring his candidacy for party leader at the party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 10th. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

The court did not provide a separate explanation for the verdict in the courtroom.

Company A was designated as the project implementer for the Hyeondeok district development in January 2014 but had its designation revoked in July 2018 following a special audit conducted after Lee Jae-myung took office as governor of Gyeonggi Province. The revocation was due to delays in land acquisition and failure to comply with implementation plans and orders.

Company A contested the revocation through administrative litigation but ultimately lost the case at the Supreme Court in September 2020.

In relation to this, in December 2020, Lee posted on his social media under the title "Changing development that enriches speculative forces into development that benefits the people," promoting the shift of private development projects to a public-private joint development model.

The post included statements such as "The Hyeondeok district development is the first case of implementing the development profit return system to the residents," and "Although it is a difficult pledge to fight against the development mafias, we are returning unearned development profits to the residents." At the end of the post, an article was attached reporting that Company A had lost the administrative lawsuit contesting the cancellation of its designation as the project implementer.

In response, Company A filed a lawsuit against former Governor Lee in 2021, claiming 100 million KRW in damages, arguing that the term "development mafia" in the post referred to them and damaged their reputation.

Earlier, the first-instance court ruled that "the statement was made to widely inform the residents of Gyeonggi Province about the specific implementation and achievements of the pledge, and the public interest nature of the expression is sufficiently recognized."

The court also stated, "Even if there was an intention to defame or disparage Company A and other private developers, illegality is not recognized," thus ruling in favor of former Governor Lee.

The Hyeondeok district development project involves creating residential, industrial, and cultural facilities over an area of 2,316,000 square meters in Jangsu and Gwongwan-ri, Hyeondeok-myeon, Pyeongtaek City. It was first designated as an economic free zone in May 2008 but has been stalled for 16 years, including the disqualification of the Daegu Bank consortium, the preferred negotiation partner, in October 2020 for failing to meet project plan conditions.

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