[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The Supreme Court ruled after five years that statements made by Assemblyman Kim Moo-sung in 2015, when he served as the leader of the Saenuri Party (now the Liberty Korea Party), criticizing the approved history textbooks as left-leaning, did not constitute defamation.
According to the legal community on the 27th, the Supreme Court's Civil Division 3 (Presiding Justice Kim Jae-hyung) issued a 'dismissal without consideration' decision on the civil appeal case filed by Han Mo, a writer of the history textbook, against the Saenuri Party and Assemblyman Kim Moo-sung.
Dismissal without consideration is a decision to reject an appeal without trial when the legal requirements are not met. In such cases, unless new evidence is presented, the lower court's ruling is finalized.
In 2015, amid sharp disagreements over the nationalization of history textbooks, Assemblyman Kim stated publicly, "A view that denies our country's history, anti-Republic of Korea," "Textbooks involving pro-North and leftists," "Children are learning Kim Il-sung's Juche ideology," and "From the composition of the writing team to the adoption of the textbooks, they are bound by the chains of leftists."
In response, 13 members of the approved history textbook writing team filed a lawsuit seeking 130 million won in damages against Assemblyman Kim and the Saenuri Party, claiming their honor was damaged by these statements.
In the first trial in 2015, the court stated regarding Assemblyman Kim's remarks, "For defamation to be established, the victim must be identified and it must be proven that their honor was specifically damaged," and "It cannot be seen that the plaintiffs were identified or that their honor was specifically damaged by the statements at that time," thus dismissing the plaintiffs' claims. Furthermore, "Although the expression 'pro-North and leftists' can be defamatory, there was considerable reason for Assemblyman Kim, as the leader of a conservative party during an intense ideological debate, to make such statements."
The second trial in 2018 also ruled in favor of Assemblyman Kim, stating that his remarks "fall within the scope of permissible political issues concerning matters of public interest." The Supreme Court upheld the same judgment.
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