president’s remarks, ‘legislature’ did not refer to the US Congress, but to the National
Assembly in Korea, especially the opposition party, and that ‘Biden’ was ‘if it blows,’ but
most domestic media, in addition to MBC, reported that the president's remarks were
referring to Biden. On Sep. 29, the ruling party filed a lawsuit against four people, including
the president of MBC, regarding the above MBC report, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
requested a correction report from the Press Arbitration Commission against MBC in
November, but mediation was not established due to differences of opinion between the two
sides.
B) Example of Controversy On Oppression of Freedom of Expression
After two incidents in the second half of 2022 sparked a controversy over freedom of
expression, similar cases were re-examined. It is difficult to see that the cause or the
development is the same as the case in 2022, but it is worth referring to in that there was a
controversy over the government's violation of freedom of expression. The most frequently
cited examples are as following.
First is the blacklisting of culture and arts groups by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and
Tourism. At that time, the government made a list of cultural artists critical of the
government and systematically excluded from government support, and conducted private
investigations and inspections. 21,362 people were listed over 9 years, and 9,273 cases
(8,931 individuals, 342 groups) were found to have suffered actual damage.139) In the
constitutional complaint filed by some victims claiming violation of freedom of expression,
the Constitutional Court held that the government's act violated the right to self-determination
of personal information, freedom of expression, and equality.140)
Next is the accusation of contempt against the president. In Jul. 2019, a representative of
a civic group distributed leaflets slandering the president near the fountain at the Capitol, and
it became controversial when he was investigated by the police for insult and the case was
forwarded to the prosecutor’s office in Apr. 2021. The offense of insult is a crime that cannot
139) Yonhap News, Ending the two-year journey in truth-finding for “Art World Blacklist” case, Dec. 31, 2018.
140) Constitutional Court, Decided on Dec. 23, 2020, 2017HunMa416.
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