(Suwon = Yonhap News) Reporter Kwon Jun-woo = The appeal trial of Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education Superintendent Ahn Min-seok, who was sentenced to a fine for defamatory remarks against Choi Seo-won (formerly Choi Soon-sil), a key figure in the Park Geun-hye government's government corruption case, began on the 19th, about a year and a month after the first trial sentence.
At the first trial of the appeals trial for Superintendent Ahn's defamation charges under the Information and Communications Network Act, which was held on this day by Suwon District Court's Criminal Division 2 (Chief Judge Seong-yul Lee), the prosecution and Superintendent Ahn's side had a tense confrontation over the guilt or innocence of the 10 remarks judged by the first trial.
Previously, in July of last year, the first trial court found Superintendent Ahn guilty of only one of the 10 statements indicted: 'Choi met with the chairman of Lockheed Martin and secured a weapons contract' and sentenced him to a fine of 3 million won.
Regarding the remaining 9 remarks, he was judged not guilty on the grounds that it was difficult to recognize the purpose of slander or that they were illegal.
In response, Superintendent Ahn's lawyer refuted the statement that the first trial found guilty, saying, "We are not concluding that the victim secured an arms contract and received a large amount of commission, but we merely introduced the information we received as a member of the National Assembly hearing for the public interest."
He then pleaded not guilty, saying, "Although there was a good possibility of a meeting due to the fact that the Chairman of Lockheed Martin visited Korea at the time, the prosecution did not present any evidence to rule out reasonable doubt as to the falsity of the remarks."
On the other hand, the prosecution countered that the sentence in the first trial was too light, saying that the remaining nine statements that the first trial found not guilty should also be recognized as guilty.
The prosecution pointed out, "The defendant appeared on the radio in 2016 and spoke as if he had personally confirmed Choi's hidden assets from a German prosecutor's insider. However, the defendant actually met with the German prosecutor's office in January 2017 the following year, so the statement was clearly false."
The prosecution also refuted the fact that the first trial court used subsequent media reports following the defendant's remarks as the basis for the not guilty verdict.
The prosecution emphasized, "Although the suspicion of the victim's hidden overseas assets was expanded and reproduced through the media after the defendant's active false statements, the first trial judgment that gave him immunity based on follow-up reports was unfair," adding, "Considering that he served as the epicenter of fake news as a member of the National Assembly with strong dissemination power, severe punishment is necessary."
After confirming the positions of both sides, the appellate court decided to proceed with the examination of one witness requested by Superintendent Ahn at the next trial, but to conclude the argument if the witness is not able to appear.
The next hearing will be held on October 16th at 2pm.
Superintendent Ahn appeared on radio in 2016, when he was a member of the National Assembly, and was indicted without detention in November 2023 on charges of saying unconfirmed facts such as, "We have confirmed with German prosecutors that Choi Soon-sil's hidden assets in Germany are worth trillions of won and that there are hundreds of German paper companies used for money laundering," and "The money of a domestic company deposited in a secret account in Switzerland is related to Choi."
Meanwhile, in relation to a lawsuit seeking damages filed separately by Mr. Choi against Superintendent Ahn, the Supreme Court confirmed the lower court ruling in April that Superintendent Ahn should compensate Superintendent Ahn with 20 million won.
Previously, the Supreme Court recognized the illegality of two of Superintendent Ahn's remarks, including 'meeting with the chairman of an American defense company' and 'connection to secret accounts in Switzerland', as illegal, including defamation by false information, and held him liable for compensation.
