On the afternoon of the 16th, the MBC program "Straight," which covers the '7-hour phone call' content of Kim Geon-hee, spouse of Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, is being broadcast on the electronic billboard at the MBC building in Sangam-dong, Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]
[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] The court mostly dismissed the provisional injunction request filed by Kim Gun-hee, spouse of Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate, to ban the broadcast of the ‘7-hour phone call’ by ‘Seoul Voice’.
The Civil Division 51 of the Seoul Southern District Court (Chief Presiding Judge Kim Tae-up) on the 21st partially accepted Kim’s request for a ban on broadcasting and distribution against Seoul Voice, but allowed most of the content to be aired.
The content prohibited from being broadcast includes: ▲ statements related solely to Kim herself or the personal lives of the candidate and family members, which are unrelated to public matters ▲ two types of non-public conversations recorded by Lee Myung-soo of Seoul Voice, involving third parties not including Lee himself.
The court ruled, "Considering that Kim is a public figure receiving national attention through the media as the spouse of Yoon Seok-yeol, a preliminary candidate for the 20th presidential election, and the influence held by the president’s spouse, her views on political and social issues, as well as her perspectives on the media and power, are matters of public interest requiring public discourse as they fall under public understanding."
Regarding allegations of Kim’s visits to entertainment establishments and cohabitation before marriage, the court stated, "Although some aspects may relate to private life, this issue is intertwined with connections to companies, prosecution officials, bribery allegations, and has been reported multiple times in various media, becoming a matter of national interest, so it is difficult to simply classify it as a personal private matter."
On claims of political manipulation, the court said, "Since the reporter identified themselves before starting the conversation with the creditor, and the broadcast or disclosure of the conversation content mainly concerns matters of public interest, it is difficult to conclude solely based on the submitted materials that this broadcast falls outside the protection scope of freedom of the press and publication."
Additionally, the court ruled, "Even if there is some risk of infringement on Kim’s voice rights, honor, personality rights, and privacy, the superior public interest gained through disclosure outweighs these concerns."
Kim’s side had filed provisional injunctions against MBC, Open Sympathy TV, and Seoul Voice, arguing that Lee illegally recorded private conversations without consent and that the disclosure of the call content would cause serious damage to her personality rights. The recorded calls by Lee are known to total 7 hours and 45 minutes over 53 sessions from July to December last year.
At the hearing held the previous day, Kim’s legal representative argued, "The recorded files were obtained by individuals with specific political motives who deliberately approached, induced questions, and extracted answers. Such actions do not fall under freedom of the press and publication and constitute serious invasion of privacy."
In response, Seoul Voice’s legal representative rebutted, "Lee identified himself and requested an interview, but Kim’s side claims this is political manipulation. There was no attempt by the reporter to manipulate or edit the recordings to distort the content."
Previously, the Seoul Western District Court on the 14th allowed the disclosure of most content except for daily conversations unrelated to investigations or political views about Kim and complaints about the media, and the Seoul Central District Court on the 19th expanded the scope of disclosure further, ruling that only private life-related parts should remain undisclosed while the rest can be made public.
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