Decision on Releasing Kim Geon-hee's Call Today... "Violation of Press Freedom" vs "Political Manipulation"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The court will issue a ruling on the 19th regarding whether to prohibit the YouTube channel 'Yeollin Gonggam TV' from disclosing the phone conversation content of Kim Gun-hee, spouse of Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate.

The Seoul Central District Court Civil Division 50 (Chief Presiding Judge Song Kyung-geun) held a hearing on the provisional injunction request filed by Kim against Yeollin Gonggam TV to prohibit broadcasting and distribution of the content on the morning of the same day, stating, "We will make a prompt decision within today."

Earlier, before the hearing, Kang Jin-gu, a reporter from Yeollin Gonggam TV, told the press, "Kim's provisional injunction request is a challenge and infringement on press freedom." He added, "Claiming that the entire 7 hours and 45 minutes of recorded phone conversations should not be reported due to personal rights infringement is an excessive assertion," and argued, "A provisional injunction request that demands not to broadcast all content without specifying certain parts fundamentally constitutes prior censorship, which is against the Constitution." It is reported that Yeollin Gonggam TV made similar arguments during the hearing.

On the other hand, Kim's side reportedly countered that the disclosure of the phone conversation content is not a matter of press freedom but a political manipulation. They claimed that since the content is a private conversation rather than an interview, the file containing such content is a tool to destroy democracy.

This ruling marks the court's second decision regarding the prohibition of disclosing Kim's phone conversation content. Previously, Kim filed a provisional injunction against MBC, Seoul Voice, and Yeollin Gonggam TV, who had announced plans to disclose the phone conversations with Lee Myung-soo, who works in filming at Seoul Voice, lasting seven hours.

Regarding the provisional injunction against MBC, the Seoul Western District Court Civil Division 21 (Presiding Judge Park Byung-tae) allowed the disclosure of most content except for daily conversations unrelated to investigations or political views about Kim, and complaints about the media on the 14th. The provisional injunction case against Seoul Voice was filed at the Seoul Central District Court but was transferred to the Seoul Southern District Court on the 17th. A hearing is scheduled for the 20th.