2007년도 언론관계 판례동향

In 2007, the Supreme Court of Korea rendered several notable decisions having implications as a practical matter with regards to freedom of expression. Of those decisions, for example, the Court held that when a reporter’s article consists of parts that fall within false statements of another, and if the content of the article does not diminish another’s overall social reputation then such statements are not regarded as defamation. In another decision, the Court addressed the issue of public disclosure of private facts and held that, even for acts of private persons, as opposed to public figures', not all public disclosure of private facts are an infringement of the persons’ privacy. Under the Court’s view, only disclosures regarding private facts of secret nature are viewed as invasion of ones' privacy. Other cases concerning freedom of expression include statements in the form of pure opinions cannot be actionable for defamation ; statements criticizing public officials or public figures are to be broadly permitted. The Constitution of Korea in Article 21, Section 1 prescribes that "All citizens shall enjoy freedom of speech and the press, and freedom of assembly and association," and in matters related to this provision, decisions of the Court are made in the process of harmonizing the guarantees of freedom of expression with the protections of individuals’ personal rights. It is the author’s expectation that the Court will consider these competing rights comprehensively, which will help build cases with firm reasoning in the upcoming cases.