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| ▲ Kang Yong-seok (C), Kim Se-ui (L) and Kim Yong-ho arrive at the Seoul Central District Court on June 20, 2023, to attend a sentencing hearing on a defamation case involving former Justice Minister Cho Kuk's daughter. (Yonhap) |
YouTubers-defamation acquittal
Right-wing YouTubers acquitted of defaming ex-justice minister's daughter
SEOUL, June 20 (Yonhap) -- Three YouTubers affiliated with Hover Lab, a right-wing YouTube channel, were acquitted by a court Tuesday of the charge of defaming the daughter of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk.
The Seoul Central District Court delivered the not-guilty verdict to lawyer Kang Yong-seok, former MBC reporter Kim Se-ui and former journalist Kim Yong-ho, who were all indicted on defamation charges last year after claiming Cho Min was driving a Porsche.
In a YouTube broadcast aired in August 2019, they disclosed a picture of a Porsche sports car parked outside Pusan National University's medical school in the southeastern port city of Busan, where Cho Min was attending, and insisted she drove the car.
The younger Cho said in court in March that she had never driven a foreign or sports car and that the vehicle in question belonged to someone else.
The court acknowledged that the car was not driven by her but said the case is not punishable as the issue falls under the sphere of public concern regarding the former minister.
Apart from the criminal suit, the three YouTubers lost in last year's first trial of a civil suit filed by the elder Cho and his two children to seek 300 million won (US$234,577) in compensation for the Porsche case and other content broadcast by Hover Lab.
In 2022, the same Seoul court ordered the YouTubers to pay 30 million won to Cho Min and 10 million won each to the elder Cho and his son. Both sides appealed to a higher court.
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