The Supreme Court of South Korea has overturned a ruling that required Jang Ye-chan, a former Supreme Council member of the People Power Party, to pay 10 million won in damages for alleging illegal cryptocurrency trading against Kim Nam-kuk, a member of the Democratic Party.
On June 25, the Supreme Court's first division, led by Justice Seo Young-hwan, reversed a lower court's partial ruling in favor of Kim and sent the case back to the Seoul Southern District Court.
The court determined that there is a possibility of justifiable reasons for Jang's statements, concluding that it is difficult to assert that they were malicious or excessively reckless to the point of losing significant weight.
In May 2023, Kim filed a defamation lawsuit against Jang, claiming that Jang spread false information regarding his alleged cryptocurrency investment issues, seeking 50 million won in damages.
At that time, Jang wrote that Kim's addiction to cryptocurrency appeared to require treatment and stated on a radio program that "even industry insiders speculate that Kim may have had access to insider information and that his trading patterns suggest possible money laundering." He also referred to Kim as a "criminal."
In the first trial held in January of last year, the court acknowledged some illegality in Jang's statements, ruling that they were malicious and excessively reckless, and ordered him to pay 30 million won in damages.
The appellate court recognized the illegal act of stating that Kim was a "criminal" but, considering the public interest related to allegations of a politician's asset formation, ordered Jang to pay 10 million won in damages.
At the time of the allegations, Kim had resigned from the party and was indicted for allegedly concealing investment profits by falsely reporting his assets, but he was acquitted in September of last year.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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