Ex-justice minister files 1-billion-won damage suit against conservative newspaper

Former Justice Minister Cho Kuk arrives at Seoul Central District Court, June 11.Yonhap

By Lee Hyo-jin

Former Justice Minister Cho Kuk has filed a 1-billion-won ($890,000) damage suit against the Chosun Ilbo, a conservative daily newspaper, for using an illustration of his family in an article about soliciting a prostitute.

The ex-minister filed the lawsuit at the Seoul Central District Court, Wednesday, seeking 500 million won each, from the reporter who wrote the article and from the editor.

In addition, Cho plans to file a separate lawsuit at a U.S. court against the Los Angeles Chosun Ilbo for publishing the same content.

The newspaper is accused of using an illustration depicting Cho and his daughter, Cho Min, in a June 21 article about a trio convicted of soliciting a prostitute. That illustration was originally used in a Feb. 23 Chosun Ilbo column about the fabrication of Cho Min's academic records to gain admission into medical school.

Following a flood of criticism, the newspaper changed the illustration several hours after the article was published. The daily also issued an apology to Cho's family and readers on June 23 for the inappropriate use of the illustration. It explained that the reporter had failed to acknowledge that the image had depicted Cho and his daughter and admitted that its monitoring of the article had been lax.

Despite the apology, Cho views the incident as a “serious infringement of personal rights, which cannot be justified by 'freedom of speech' or 'errors in the working process.'”

“I am requesting a high amount of compensation in order to eradicate the unacceptable practice of defaming other people and attacking their character in the form of public media articles,” he said in a statement.

The Chosun Ilbo published an additional apology in this Wednesday's edition, devoting a full page to a detailed explanation of the incident, with proposed measures to prevent reoccurrence.