'Employee Surveillance' Tolerated... Former MBC Executives Including Kim Jae-cheol Ordered to Pay 18 Million Won in Compensation to Company

Former MBC President Kim Jae-cheol

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] In relation to the incident during the 2012 MBC labor union strike where the management illegally surveilled employees using an internal security program, the Supreme Court has ruled that former MBC President Kim Jaecheol and other executives at the time must compensate the company approximately 18 million KRW. This ruling is based on the fact that Kim and others should bear partial responsibility for the legal fees MBC incurred due to the lawsuit filed by the union over the incident.

On the 11th, the Supreme Court's 3rd Division (Presiding Justice Lee Heunggu) announced that it upheld the appellate court's partial ruling in favor of the plaintiff in the damages claim lawsuit filed by MBC against former President Kim and three others.

Previously, during the 2012 strike by the National Union of Mediaworkers MBC Headquarters, the management illegally used the internal security program 'Troycut' to access 525 emails and files sent by employees through company computers. In response, the union filed a damages claim lawsuit against MBC and former President Kim, winning a partial ruling in court.

In 2019, MBC filed a lawsuit claiming 62.1 million KRW in damages, stating that due to the illegal acts of former President Kim and others, the company had to bear litigation costs including attorney fees.

The first trial court stated, "Former President Kim and others must have been sufficiently informed about the installation and operation of Troycut," and criticized them for "violating employees' right to informational self-determination and the union's rights to association and collective action, knowing about the illegal acts but failing to take appropriate measures, instead condoning and encouraging them."

However, since former Information Content Director Cha led the illegal installation of Troycut, the court limited the responsibility of former President Kim and others to 30%. The court ruled that the defendants must jointly pay a total of 18 million KRW to MBC.

The appellate court and the Supreme Court agreed with this judgment.