Seoul court acquits Japanese reporter of defaming president

This fool is lucky he is not in Thailand or he could be spending the rest of his life in prison. Regardless of the circumstances, this twit is supposed to be a professional journalist and he should know better than to publish slanderous untruths.

Not guilty, and rightfully so:

http://www.sankei.com/smp/affairs/news/151217/afr1512170041-s.html

This is a opinion from a news reporter, nothing more, nothing less. Rise above it, unless the Korean Government wants to give credence to his correspondence, interpreted in the public interest, with all the unnecessary/relevant connotations....

For the South Korean political common sense, praising Japan is no difference like praising North Korea and if any Japanese making critics of their president, there you are a pro~imperial rightist.Praising U.S.A is 'A must' and so does praising China, Russia they were big brothers in the region, dont mess with them. Thea bove message is what the RoK government want their people to ackowledges.

Ironically, both Korean and Japanese rightwingers are going to be extremely disappointed by this news. Korean rightwingers didn't get their conviction, and Japanese rightwingers aren't able to point to this case as proof of how anti-Japanese Korea is. It's taken the wind out of both their sails.

itsonlyrocknrollDEC. 17, 2015 - 05:57PM JST This is a opinion from a news reporter, nothing more, nothing less.

Erm... no. Opinions are statements without an objective truth value. Things like "It's warm in here," or, "Gee, I my Internet is slow today.

A Seoul court has acquitted a Japanese reporter of defaming South Korea’s president by reporting that she was spending time with a man during a deadly ferry disaster last year.

This is a statement with an objective truth value. Either SK's President was with a man, or she wasn't. There is no Schroedinger's boyfriend and it's not a matter decided by vote, so it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. So no, this was not Kato's opinion. He was either right, in which case he needs to pony up the evidence, or he was wrong, and he needs to explain why he was wrong.

Now, maybe him being wrong isn't worth criminal prosecution. We don't know he was wrong because he intentionally lied... maybe he's just grossly misinformed. Reasonable people can disagree on whether or not these charges should have been brought against him. But it's high time we stopped letting people hide behind "it's just my opinion!" when it comes to reporting things that are not opinions.

The freedom of expression of reporters was upheld with this verdict. Truth - and truthful opinions - must never be suppressed by any power or political doctrine. Sometimes opinions are proved wrong, sometimes right; let the chips fall where they may, but through the net can escape truth, and that's a healthy thing for us all.

It seems that freedom of speech/expression just won this time but such freedom is still limited there. Think politicians are always criticised and slandered in any country.

It is a natural judgement. There isn't any good things.

I'm surprised and very happy.

Glad to see that the rule of law is considered more important than silly squabbles over islands, or who did what seventy years ago.

Welcome the news.

He only wrote what was already being written in the Korean press. It was always a ridiculous charge and Korea should apologize for its pathetic behavior.

While it's alarming that South Korea is so right wing that it teeters on the brink of losing democracy, there are many in South Korea who are now speaking up against this self-damaging nonsense. Why a journalist from ANY country should have been charged in the first place when his sources were the South Korea media boggles the mind. The next issue is South Korea's prosecution of Professor Park who "dared" to express her studied view that 200,000 women were NOT kidnapped, a fact that Asahi Shimbun has admitted was a fabricated story back in the early 90s , which South Korea chooses to ignore. What's noteworthy is not just Japan and the United States pressing South Korea to stop this move towards authoritarianism but that now many South Koreans are beginning to speak out against it.

The Judge at Supreme Court stated" The people of ROK cannot agree with his reportings" I didnot know Supreme Court conducted public opinion poll beforehand.

Now they should drop the case against the South Korean historian too.

Hi katsu78, President Park Geun-hye a experienced Politician, could have simply brushed the article and comments aside, 'sticks and stones'.. etc

Pursuing Sankei Shimbun reporter Tatsuya Kato on charges of defamation draws unnecessary attention to the night in question provoking accusations of duplicity.

Why am I not surprised OssanAmerica will say about this South Korea, but totally ignore Japan's problem with free speech restrictions? International press organizations considers and rates Japan worse than South Korea when it comes to freedom of press.

OssanAmericaDEC. 18, 2015 - 12:07AM JST While it's alarming that South Korea is so right wing that it teeters on the brink of losing democracy, there are many in South Korea who are now speaking up against this self-damaging nonsense. Why a journalist from ANY country should have been charged in the first place when his sources were the South Korea media boggles the mind. The next issue is South Korea's prosecution of Professor Park who "dared" to express her studied view that 200,000 women were NOT kidnapped, a fact that Asahi Shimbun has admitted was a fabricated story back in the early 90s , which South Korea chooses to ignore. What's noteworthy is not just Japan and the United States pressing South Korea to stop this move towards authoritarianism but that now many South Koreans are beginning to speak out against it.

International press organizations considers and rates Japan worse than South Korea when it comes to freedom of press.

Which is evidence of anti-Japan or incompetence of int'l press organization.

Papi2013Dec. 19, 2015 - 09:41PM JST Why am I not surprised OssanAmerica will say about this South Korea, but totally ignore Japan's problem with free >speech restrictions? International press organizations considers and rates Japan worse than South Korea when it comes >to freedom of press.

The evidence supporting my statements are in the article itself. Where is the evidence to support your ridiculous purely "anti-Japan" statement?