On the 15th, the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors’ Office requested a one-year prison sentence for YouTuber Kim Ou-joon during the final hearing held at the Seoul Northern District Court’s Criminal Division 14 Single Judge Kang Kyung-muk. This marks over two years since Mr. Kim was indicted for defaming former Channel A journalist Lee Dong-jae and over four years since the police began their investigation.
Mr. Kim faces charges of making multiple false statements on radio broadcasts and YouTube from April to October 2020, claiming that the former journalist urged Lee Cheol, former CEO of Value Invest Korea, to “report falsely that money was given to Rhyu Si-min.”
The former journalist filed a complaint against Mr. Kim with the Seoul Seongbuk Police Station in February 2022, but the police did not refer the case for prosecution in March of the same year due to insufficient evidence. However, following a prosecution request for reinvestigation, Mr. Kim was referred for prosecution in September of the following year. The prosecution indicted him in April 2024.
Throughout the trial, Mr. Kim’s side has denied the charges. During the first hearing, his attorney argued, “Mr. Kim’s remarks were personal expressions of opinion and critiques as a journalist. He believed the Facebook post written by former Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Choe Kang-wook to be factual and had reasonable grounds for that belief.”
However, Mr. Kim’s statements matched the post that former lawmaker...
On the 15th, the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors’ Office requested a one-year prison sentence for YouTuber Kim Ou-joon during the final hearing held at the Seoul Northern District Court’s Crim...