Another Libel Lawsuit: Blue House Senior Official Cho Kuk Sues Journalist Woo Jong-chang for Libel

2019-3-8, Woo Jong-chang on YouTube Falsehoods and Truths (우종창의 거짓과 진실)

Cho Kuk, Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs, Blue House

Woo Jong-chang, a journalist and a YouTuber

Woo Jong-chang (우종창):

On March 7, 2019, I received a summons from the Seoul District office of the National Police Agency. It was said that Cho Kuk (조국), the Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs at the Blue House, sued me for libel. I asked the police officer who summoned me what was the content of the libel suit. He only revealed that it had to do with my YouTube show about judge Kim Se-yoon (김세윤). If it was in reference to the show about the Senior Secretary Cho Kuk and judge Kim Se-yoon, then it was a show I did last year, on March 1, 2018. It was the content in the 59th session of the ‘Falsehoods and Truths: Mountains of Lies that Buried the President (Park Geun-hye, 박근혜)’ series [his 59th YouTube about various lies that led to Park’s impeachment and the criminal trial that followed].

It [the 59th show] was on YouTube about a month before the court decision date of April 1, 2018 for the initial judgement [of the criminal trial]. It was titled ‘President Park Geun-hye is Innocent. The evidence [for her innocence] is in the [court] record.’ It was 41 minutes long. The part about Senior Secretary Cho Kuk and judge Kim Se-yoon goes from 4:55 to 12:53.

He talked about a tip-off, and began with a caveat saying “It has not been verified as truth yet.” He continued “sometime during January to early February 2018, Senior Secretary Cho Ku met and had dinner with Seoul Central District Court Judge Kim Se-yoon at a Korean restaurant near the Blue House…Also, there was a third person.” Woo said if Cho met with Kim, it is shocking, because it was before the initial court decision was reached. Woo said he made the statement because he wanted assistance in verifying whether Cho indeed met with judge Kim. He said the public has the right to know and asked his audience if there were any witnesses. In fact, Woo said he also sent a letter dated March 1, 2018 (prior to him talking about it on his YouTube on April 2, 2018) to the Blue House spokesperson Kim Eui-kyeom (김의겸) asking if Cho met with Kim, but received no reply. He also sent the same letter asking about the meeting to judge Kim. Woo also stated on his YouTube program that such letters were sent. [Truncated]