A malicious push for punitive damages

The new National Assembly is following exactly the same path of the worst-ever 21st Assembly. The majority Democratic Party (DP) unilaterally opened the new legislature and submitted ill-intended bills just like it did four years ago. Ten DP lawmakers, including Reps. Jung Chung-rae and Yang Moon-seok, have submitted a controversial revision to the Media Arbitration Act aimed at imposing punitive damages on news reports. The revision allows courts to order compensations up to three times the damage on personality rights from malicious reports by the press. The revision also mandates the media to run a correction or a counterargument in the same length as its original report and extend the period for making such requests to “within three years” from “within six months” after the original report.

As the governing party in 2021, the DP attempted to railroad a similar revision, but backtracked in the face of a strong backlash. At that time, the press fiercely criticized the revision for “trying to control the press.” Renowned international news organizations joined the chorus, citing serious problems with the excessive punishment for media outlets.

The lawmakers who submitted the revision contend that punitive damages should be introduced given the low possibility of winning a libel suit against the media in civil trials or receiving appropriate compensation. But sufficient punishment can be imposed by the existing criminal law. The legislators’ push for separate punitive damages is aimed to threaten the press and block its critical reports. Enforcing the same length for a correction and counterargument as the original report also doesn’t make sense because it will effectively weaken the media’s role to find the truth.

Three years ago, a DP lawmaker submitted such a bill when he was under investigation for suspicions of embezzlement and breach of trust. The legislator was arrested later. This time, Rep. Yang Moon-seok, one of the DP lawmakers who have proposed the revision, is to be summoned to the prosecution over his suspicious 1.1 billion won ($801,165) in loan from a community credit cooperative. After the suspicion arose during his campaign for the April 10 parliamentary elections, he promised to pass a revision for punitive damages.

If the revision is passed, political bigwigs or business tycoons will rush to file suits whenever they face uncomfortable news. That will critically hurt the media’s innate function to criticize the powers that be. Is it what the party wants? News organizations must take responsibility for their false reports. But such constraints should be made within the boundaries of freedom of speech.