President Yoon Seok-yeol’s New York Statement MBC Appeal Trial ‘Speaker Proves False Report’
The second defamation trial of MBC, which reported President Yoon Seok-yeol’s New York Statement, changed to ‘Speaker and nearby listeners prove false report.’
On the 6th, the 13th Civil Affairs Division of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judge Moon Gwang-seop) again ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the plaintiff in the defamation suit, to submit the statement of Rep. Kim Eun-hye (then Senior Secretary for Public Relations) who said ‘if you blow it’ regarding President Yoon’s statement during the second argument of the appeal trial.
Presiding Judge Moon Gwang-seop said on that day, “Isn’t the issue what the president said? The controversy was that the voice test was conducted in the first trial, but it was unclear, so we need to confirm what he actually said,” and “Since we can’t ask him, we should indirectly confirm it with someone who directly confirmed it with the president in a close position,” the Journalists’ Association Report reported on the 6th.
On July 19, the first hearing, the Supreme Court requested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to “obtain a statement from Rep. Kim, who confirmed what he said to the president as the chief of public relations in September 2022,” and on the second hearing, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it could not submit the statement, saying, “We discussed the composition and content of the statement with Rep. Kim, but we received a response that it could be drawn up as it could be embroiled in another political debate.”
On that day, the court again requested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to “submit a statement of confirmation,” and MBC initially requested Rep. Kim to be “adopted as a witness.”
On January 12, the Western District Court’s first trial ruling ruled that MBC’s “inability to judge” the important issues of President Yoon’s outrageous remarks immediately after the New York Korea-US summit, and that it was “not Biden’s remarks” based on the US’s “budget approval” being “natural” for Korea, thereby acknowledging defamation. The Western District Court’s ruling stated, “It is natural to assume that President Yoon Seok-yeol made this statement against the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea with the above-mentioned intent,” and “It cannot be said that President Yoon Seok-yeol used abusive language and vulgar language toward the U.S. Congress and Biden.”
The first trial ruling, despite the fact that the person making the statement was a living person, presented the fundamental judgment as “presumption” and avoided examining the facts of the “recorded broadcast,” limiting it to the “listener’s right” to the on-site recording, concluding that “interpretation is natural.”
From the beginning, the first trial appeared to be a misjudgment due to the granting of “immunity privilege to the living speaker and the immediate listeners” in the judgment of defamation of character for the statement, and in the second trial, the judgment was changed to “proving the speaker’s side’s false report.”
The MBC’s “Biden false report judgment expert opinion,” which was the basis for the first trial ruling, stated that the standard for judgment was Based on the ‘personal recognition’, the court judged that ‘the appraiser’s personal hearing was excluded’, and based on this, a ‘report of inability to appraise’ was issued, and based on this, the Western District Court ruled that it was a ‘correction report due to false reporting.’
The court in the first trial’s false report ruling presented a ‘false report’ opinion as the standard for the ruling, and before that, it first gave the appraiser an appraisal and received an opinion, and later officially requested the appraiser to appraise and used this ‘false report’ as the main basis for the ruling, proceeding in the typical order of a manipulated ruling.
The ‘subtitle report on the interview video’ reported by MBC falls under the realm of reporting and editing reporting of fair reporting, and the normal order for filing a false report that differs from the judgment of the reporter is to determine whether it is false reporting through independent factual confirmation.
On September 22, 2022, Chief Kim stated in New York that, “Criticism of the president and state affairs is always acceptable. However, distorting the president’s diplomatic activities and falsely alienating allies is an act of self-destruction to national interests,” and the incident became about “dissociating allies” and “self-destruction to national interests.” Chief Kim’s press conference statement that day was an explanation that “the opposition party distorted the issue that should have criticized the president and attacked the United States.” Chief Kim excluded the opposition party from the “ROK-US alliance” and converted “national interests” into a monopoly system of executive tyranny, thereby turning the opposition party’s criticism into an “attack on the United States.” When asked by reporters, “Did you ask the president directly?” Chief Kim responded, “I am the chief of public relations at the presidential office. It is unreasonable to say something like this without asking the president directly and going through verification procedures,” confirming that President Yoon Seok-yeol and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have jointly established a system of “national interest executive tyranny.”
In response to a press conference question, “Did the presidential office clearly decide that ‘Biden’ and ‘if it were to be blown’ is correct?” Chief Kim responded, “Yes. I have a stronger conviction than Biden,” and excluded the opposition party from Korea through the remark of “splitting allies.” When asked, "Does yesterday's statement mean that you are targeting our National Assembly?", Chief Kim said, "Yes," and revealed that it was a "discord between the opposition party's allies."
When asked, "Is the first part 'XXs' correct, which is a controversial expression of profanity? If so, is this our National Assembly?" Chief Kim said, "It is not the US Congress." Then, when asked, "Is it the Korean National Assembly?", he confirmed, "Yes, because it is not the US Congress."
An alliance treaty between countries comes into effect with congressional approval, and in diplomacy that the government temporarily executes, national interests correspond to future acts delegated to the temporary government.
Through the president's confirmation, Chief Kim excluded the opposition party and the people from the 'national interest' and established a monopoly of the executive branch.
Chief Kim said, "Listen to (the voice) once more now" at a New York press conference, and "It says 'if the National Assembly does not approve it,' it 'goes away.'" There is no reason to talk about the US here, and there is even less reason to mention 'Biden'," he said.
President Yoon's remarks immediately after the New York Korea-US summit seem to have revealed his pro-Republican bias, supporting the US Republican Party to become the majority party in the November midterm elections.
<Refer to Chief Eun-hye Kim's 'National Interest Harm Between Allies', 'Opposition Party Attacks the US', September 23, 2022>
<Yoon Seok-yeol’s diplomatic remarks court misjudges MBC’s ‘Biden false report’ ruling due to ‘diplomatic ignorance,’ dated January 16, 2024> <MBC ‘Biden’ ruling appraisal report ‘personal Even though it is 'recognizable', it is a mistake to say 'unrecognizable', see February 11th