The court partially granted a provisional injunction request filed by a former senior presidential secretary to prohibit the broadcast of a recording by an internet media outlet that raised suspicions of Kim Geon-hee's involvement in the general election.
The internet media outlet stated that most of their claims were accepted and that they plan to proceed with the broadcast as scheduled.
According to the legal community on the 30th, the Civil Division 51 of the Seoul Southern District Court (Chief Judge Kim Woo-hyun) partially accepted the provisional injunction request filed by former senior secretary Kim Dae-nam against Seoul Voice to prohibit airing and distribution.
The court prohibited the broadcast of "the creditor's personal speculations or statements related only to private matters unrelated to public domain issues" from the recorded phone conversations between former senior secretary Kim and reporter Lee Myung-soo of Seoul Voice.
Additionally, the court banned the broadcast of content that used definitive expressions claiming "Mrs. Kim intervened in the nomination process, leading former personnel secretary Lee Won-mo to receive a strategic nomination, and that lawmaker Lee Cheol-gyu was involved in the process."
The request to prohibit the broadcast of the remaining content was dismissed, and former senior secretary Kim was ordered to bear 80% of the litigation costs.
Earlier, on the 23rd, Seoul Voice released a recording on their YouTube channel in which former senior secretary Kim, who applied for the People Power Party nomination in Yongin Gap, Gyeonggi Province during this year's general election but was rejected, stated that "Mrs. Kim intervened in the nomination process."
In the recording, former senior secretary Kim claimed, "Mrs. Kim was intervening in the nomination process through lawmaker Lee Cheol-gyu, who was then the nomination management committee member," citing the strategic nomination of former personnel secretary Lee Won-mo in Yongin Gap, where he himself had applied, as an example of such intervention.
Seoul Voice announced a follow-up broadcast that night, and former senior secretary Kim filed a provisional injunction with the court to stop such reports.
At the provisional injunction hearing held on the 26th, former senior secretary Kim's side stated, "Former senior secretary Kim spoke based on rumors he heard," adding, "He actively acknowledges his misstatements and regrets them," arguing that the broadcast should be prohibited due to serious infringement of personal rights.
They claimed that the problematic statements were made based on misunderstandings of rumors and that he neither knew nor was in a position to know the facts related to the nomination mentioned in the recording.
Seoul Voice countered, saying, "Since it concerns nomination interference, it has significant public interest, and there is no possibility of falsehood in the content of the interview given by former senior secretary Kim in his own voice."
Attorney Lee Je-il, legal representative for Seoul Voice, said, "Seoul Voice did not submit the recording they possess to the court, and since most of Seoul Voice's claims were accepted, the broadcast will air as prepared this evening."
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