Court Rules MBC Not Liable for Damages in Reporting on Choi Kyung-hwan's Alleged SillaJen Investment

▲ Former Deputy Prime Minister for Economy Choi Kyung-hwan

MBC has been cleared of liability for damages in the remand trial regarding its report on the alleged SillaJen investment by former Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and Minister of Economy and Finance Choi Kyung-hwan.

The 8-2 Civil Division of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judges Oh Young-sang, Lim Jong-hyo, and Choi Eun-jung) ruled against the plaintiff today in the damages lawsuit filed by former Deputy Prime Minister Choi against MBC.

This ruling follows the remand decision made by the Supreme Court.

In April 2020, MBC reported claims made by Lee Chul, former CEO of Value Invest Korea (VIK), that "former Deputy Prime Minister Choi Kyung-hwan invested 500 million won in SillaJen convertible bonds in 2014, and his associates invested 6 billion won."

Following the report, Choi filed a 300 million won damages lawsuit against MBC in May of the same year, claiming his reputation had been damaged by fake news.

The first and second trials partially accepted Choi's claim, ruling in favor of the plaintiff in part and ordering MBC to pay 20 million won to Choi.

Those courts determined that the report constituted the dissemination of false information and that it was difficult to conclude that MBC had reasonable grounds to believe the information was true.

However, in March, the Supreme Court upheld the finding that the report contained false information but remanded the case to the Seoul High Court, noting that there was room to argue that the illegality of the report could be negated.

The Supreme Court determined that the allegations surrounding Choi were related to a matter of public interest and could be recognized as serving the public good.

Furthermore, considering that it had been revealed that SillaJen executives and major shareholders had sold their holdings before the stock price plummeted, and that VIK was the largest shareholder of SillaJen, the court stated, "Even if MBC did not properly verify the truth of the facts regarding the allegations, it is possible that MBC believed these allegations to be true."

(Photo: Yonhap News)

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