Webtoon creator Joo Ho-min and his wife have lost the first trial of their defamation damages lawsuit against a YouTuber, the Suwon District Court ruling against them on October 27, Xports News reported.
The couple filed the suit last year seeking 35 million won, arguing that Park, operator of the YouTube channel Ppeokga, defamed them with false information and insulting expressions about the case in which they sued their son’s special education teacher over alleged child abuse.
According to the reports, the couple objected to Park’s video claims that Joo Ho-min’s wife demanded the replacement of sex education instructors, contacted their son’s homeroom teacher day and night, and went to the school to shout and demand the teacher’s removal. They also objected to expressions translated as “people who don’t know how to thank others” and “typical gapjil parents,” a Korean term for people accused of abusing their power over others.
The court rejected the claim. It found that even if some of Park’s remarks differed from the facts or were exaggerated, Park had drawn on public material such as media reports about a socially debated case, and had expressed opinions based on that material. The court said it was difficult to conclude that the video was made solely to slander the couple, or that Park acted knowing the claims were false.
The defamation case grew out of a 2022 dispute, when the couple placed a recorder in their son’s bag and recorded remarks by his special education teacher, identified only as A, then filed a complaint alleging emotional abuse. In the first trial of that criminal case, the court exceptionally recognized the recording as evidence and handed the teacher a suspended sentence with a fine of 2 million won.
The appeals court disagreed, ruling the secretly recorded audio was a private conversation between others under the Protection of Communications Secrets Act, and therefore inadmissible. It overturned the conviction and acquitted the teacher. The prosecution appealed, and the criminal case is still awaiting a final judgment from the Supreme Court. Earlier in October, Joo Ho-min backed a petition signed by about 24,000 people urging the court to recognize an exception to the recording ban.
No official statement from Joo Ho-min’s side on the ruling was included in the reports. As a first-instance decision, it leaves room for an appeal, while the criminal case remains unresolved at the Supreme Court.
