Presidential chief of workers Chung Jin-suk seems on the Seoul Central District Court docket in Seoul for a trial on Tuesday. (Yonhap)
A Seoul court docket on Tuesday ordered presidential chief of workers Chung Jin-suk to pay a fantastic of 12 million received ($8,998) for defaming the glory of the late President Roh Moo-hyun by a social media publish, whereas overturning the preliminary ruling of a six-month jail time period.
The costs towards Chung stemmed from a Fb publish he made in September 2017, during which he claimed that Roh’s spouse, Kwon Yang-sook, and their son had acquired bribes from a businessperson carefully related to Roh.
Within the ruling, the Seoul Central District Court docket famous that Chung was responsible of delivering false data with the intent to defame the victims, and highlighted that there have been no grounds for Chung to imagine such accusations had been true.
The court docket added that the publish seemed to be a “malicious and excessively reckless” assault and couldn’t be thought-about as being made in favor of the general public curiosity.
The court docket, nonetheless, overturned the preliminary six-month jail sentence, acknowledging that Chung had repeatedly expressed regret.
In August 2023, a district court docket imposed the jail time period on Chung, arguing that he had “crossed the road.” It was heavier than the 5 million received fantastic sought by prosecutors. Chung was not taken into custody.
Shortly after Tuesday’s verdict, Chung informed reporters that he “respects” the court docket’s resolution however didn’t touch upon whether or not he would attraction the ruling.
Roh, a liberal politician who ran the nation from 2003 to 2008, leaped to his demise from a cliff behind his retirement residence in 2009 amid a corruption investigation involving his household and aides. (Yonhap)
