By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter

The battle between liberal judges versus conservative prosecutors ― a snapshot of a serious ideological divide facing the nation ― is reaching boiling point following the latest judicial ruling clearing a television news team of false reporting on mad cow disease.

A Seoul court cleared MBC TV's investigative journal ``PD Notebook'' on defamation charges, Wednesday, for allegedly wrongly portraying the actions of the Lee Myung-bak government during its talks with Washington to resume U.S. beef imports in 2008.

Cheong Wa Dae refused to comment on the verdict in an apparent show of extreme displeasure.

The ruling came just days after another court acquitted a progressive legislator on charges of violent behavior at the National Assembly, touching off the ideological dispute between the two pillars of the courtroom ― judges and prosecutors.

The feud deepened after an additional court ruling, Tuesday, found a group of ``progressive'' teachers not guilty of engaging in collective action denouncing conservative President Lee last year. Participation in political rallies by teachers is prohibited under current laws.

Conservative-progressive tensions reached a peak Wednesday after the Seoul Central District Court exonerated five MBC staff members ― four program directors and a script writer, who were indicted for defaming government officials in two episodes of PD Notebook that were critical of the Lee administration's decision to resume importing U.S. beef.

In April 2008, the episodes were allegedly based on scientific research that Koreans were genetically susceptible to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease ― the human form of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease.

The program criticized then Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun and Min Dong-seok, one of the chief negotiators in the beef import deal, for ``ignoring'' the risk of mad cow disease associated with U.S. beef in order to rekindle warmer Korea-U.S. diplomatic ties, which had remained chilly during the 2003-2008 presidency of the liberal Roh Moo-hyun.

The program provoked countless health-conscious citizens to take to major thoroughfares across the country and stage rallies for about three months, forcing President Lee to renegotiate the deal, to make an official apology and to reshuffle the Cabinet to contain his nose-diving approval ratings.

The two state negotiators filed a suit against the five MBC workers, arguing the accused defamed them by distorting the facts, deliberately mistranslating interviews with several Americans and exaggerating the threat of mad cow disease associated with American beef.

``Although there were some exaggerations or errors in translation, it is hard to say they deliberately distorted the facts related to the threat of the disease,'' Judge Mun Sung-gwan said in his ruling.

``As the program criticized the resumption of imports of U.S. beef, based on expert opinion and research results, it cannot be considered to have caused harm to the reputation of the officials.''

The prosecution said that the ruling didn't make sense, adding that it plans to appeal.

``The court's decision is sort of a self-contradiction,'' said a prosecutor familiar with the case. In fact, a court ordered MBC to air a correction over the two episodes in June last year, saying part of the story had been confirmed to be exaggerated.

MBC admitted errors in translation and formally apologized for airing incorrect information.

The protest against the resumption of U.S. beef imports was initiated by health-conscious citizens, but later transformed into a battlefield for those harboring antagonism toward the conservative President Lee.

Liberal news outlets, which enjoyed their heyday during the Roh Moo-hyun presidency, supported MBC, praising the nation's second largest TV station as a crusader for the pro-democracy, anti-government movement, while conservative media condemned MBC for misleading the public.

The ruling Grand National Party immediately condemned the verdict, saying, ``The decision goes against common sense, dealing yet another blow to the judiciary.''

pss@koreatimes.co.kr