A former agency employee who claimed to have been verbally abused and physically assaulted by a K-Pop star was acquitted again in the appellate court on charges of defamation.
On October 15th, the Seoul Western District Court Criminal Appeals Division 2-1 dismissed the prosecution’s appeal and upheld the first trial’s not guilty verdict in the appellate trial for Kim, a former agency employee indicted for defamation under the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, for his claims against Jang Woo Hyuk, originally from the group H.O.T.
Regarding the core issue of defamation by false statements, the court ruled, “It is difficult to clearly prove that the defendant’s claims of assault were false.”
Regarding whether the defamation by factual statements was established, the court stated, “Considering the social status and influence of the accuser (Jang Woo Hyuk), the disclosure clearly pertains to the public interest,” and judged that there was no intent to slander, thus ruling not guilty.
The court also found that additional evidence submitted by the prosecution during the appeal was insufficient to overturn the first trial’s not guilty verdict.
Previously, in June 2022, Kim posted allegations online claiming that Jang Woo Hyuk verbally abused him habitually and assaulted him twice. Kim alleged that in 2014, during a business trip to China, Jang Woo Hyuk, wearing leather gloves, hit the back of his head in a taxi, and in 2020, while getting a microphone fitted in a broadcast waiting room, Jang allegedly struck his hand and shouted insults.
In response, Jang Woo Hyuk denied all the allegations as groundless and sued Kim for defamation. In particular, regarding the 2020 waiting room incident, Jang countered that he was the one assaulted by Kim, but the court did not accept this claim.