THE KUKMIN DAILY

The lawsuit filed by the Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea (Yu Byeong-eon Salvation Sect) against Rev. Jeong Dong-seop (photo), requesting compensation for damages they said were caused by Rev. Jeong’s slander of their denomination, has been dismissed by the court.

On September 11, the Seoul Western District 2nd Single-Judge Civil Court (Judge Lee Jong-gwang) dismissed the case brought by the Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea, which had sought damage compensation of 50 million won on the grounds that “Rev. Jeong continuously and on many occasions slandered the Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea by falsely stating that it was behind the 1987 Odaeyang mass suicide incident and the 2014 Sewol Ferry sinking incident.”

Ruling in Rev. Jeong’s favor, the court ruling said, “There was reasonable cause to believe the contents expressed by Rev. Jeong were true, and it is reasonable to regard his main motive and purpose to be criticism of the religion’s wrong points in the public interest…Even if some of the expressions he used were a little exaggerated or inappropriate, his criticisms fundamentally fall within the category of actions expressing religious criticism, and are not illegal in nature.”

Continuing, the ruling said, “Although Rev. Jeong’s expressions included somewhat exaggerated and judgmental expressions, we note that in the important parts, they were either in accord with the truth or could reasonably be believed to be true.” As evidence of this, the court presented instances of Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea believers’ activities, such as their hanging of a banner outside their headquarters inscribed “Even if you catch all 100,000 Salvation Sect believers, I will guard Yu Byeong-eon,” and their confrontation with the investigative authorities.

In particular, with regard to the report of the Incheon District Prosecutor’s Office that “the Odaeyang mass suicide incident was not connected with the Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea or its believers,” the court ruled that it fell short of legal force, being only an investigative cooperation document. Each time the Salvation Sect has waged a legal battle, it has presented this report, denying any relationship between it and the Odaeyang incident.

“As a document requesting investigative cooperation, the only object of the Incheon District Prosecutor’s Office document was to state that they had not confirmed a connection between the Odaeyang incident and Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea or Yu Byeong-eon; it was not a report of investigation results by a responsible investigative agency that had studied the incident directly,” the court said.

Rev. Jeong said, “In this ruling, the court has supported as fact my statements about the social evils of the Salvation Sect, and has recognized my comments as being in the public interest…In particular, the court has established that the Incheon District Prosecutor’s Office investigative cooperation document, which has been reintroduced by the Salvation Sect in every litigation, is lacking in legal force, and this also is a significant point.”

Reporter Paek Sang-hyun (100sh@kmib.co.kr), with Marion Kim (marionkkim@icloud.com)


Original Article in Korean:
“세월호 배후에 구원파” 비판 정동섭 목사, 구원파에 승소: 법원, 구원파 측 손배소 기각


Related Articles:
1. “It is not true that the Sewol’s captain is unrelated to the Salvation Sect”
2. “Salvation Sect is Unrelated to Korean Church; Yu is Fraudulent Peddler of Unknown Religion”