Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon, center in front row in the background, looks out as Rep. Kim Eui-kyeom of the Democratic Party of Korea, front, attends a National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee meeting on Dec. 7 in Seoul. Yonhap

Rep. Kim claims Han is trying to silence criticism, but minister denies allegations

By Lee Yeon-woo

Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon has been in a legal dispute with Rep. Kim Eui-kyeom of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) since Dec. 2 when the former sued the latter for 1 billion won ($760,000) in compensation for his baseless accusations.

Han has filed lawsuits at the Seoul Central District Court against Kim, YouTubers and an unidentified informant, claiming that the lawmaker should pay for damage caused by creating and spreading false stories about him.

The minister also filed a separate complaint against them with the police for spreading false information.

His legal action comes just weeks after Kim made allegations about the justice minister.

During a National Assembly session in October, the DPK lawmaker claimed that the minister, along with President Yoon Suk-yeol and 30 attorneys working for the nation's top law firm, met in July at a luxury bar in southern Seoul. The minister flatly denied the allegation immediately, noting that he does not drink alcohol. The presidential office said later that DPK lawmaker's claim was "completely made up."

In response. Rep. Kim upped the ante. Kim claimed Han's legal action against him and others is inappropriate, because the justice minister oversees the prosecution and the police, thus the law enforcement officials would be tempted to curry favor with their boss' decision.

On Thursday, Kim sharpened his criticism, likening him to "a military commander who has declared martial law to silence his critics."

"I knew he (justice minister) would take legal action against me. But I've never imagined that he would demand 1 billion won in the legal settlement," Kim said during a radio show interview on Thursday. "People in the Yoon Suk-yeol government tend to react to those who are critical of them or comment negatively about them with legal action to silence critics …. what the justice minister did is nothing but SLAPP (a strategic lawsuit against public participation)."

SLAPP refers to "damaging suits to put a muzzle on free speech and healthy debate by targeting those who communicate with their government or speak out on issues of public interest," according to the website of the Public Participation Project. Essentially, it is claimed that some politicians use lawsuits as a way to make their opponents lose time and money by having to hire an attorney to defend them.

But experts disagree with Kim accusing the justice minister of SLAPP.

Kim Do-seung, a professor of law at Mokpo National University, said that Rep. Kim is as influential as the justice minister as the former is a lawmaker, explaining that SLAPP is applied only when the two involved parties have a disproportionate level of influence or one party is more powerful than the other.

"Minister Han is a Cabinet minister and Rep. Kim is a lawmaker who is as influential as the minister. So it's inappropriate to say that the justice minister can exert influence to silence the lawmaker and thus (Han's legal action against Kim) is hard to be seen as something akin to SLAPP," the professor told The Korea Times.

According to Kim, a typical SLAPP can be found, for example, in a legal dispute between ordinary citizens and Cabinet ministers. "We often see that grass-roots people openly criticize certain Cabinet members or the president for policy directions or measures, and this is quite natural in a democracy. In cases where the president or Cabinet ministers take legal action against people who criticized them, those who are sued will feel pressured due to the legal consequences," he said, noting that the Cabinet ministers or the president are in a position to influence grass-root citizens.

Shin Min-young, an attorney at the Seoul-based law firm Hoam, presented a similar view, saying the legal dispute between the justice minister and Rep. Kim is not being seen as an example of SLAPP.

"It was reported that Rep. Kim didn't even check any facts before he made the allegations about the justice minister and the lawmaker admitted that he was wrong. Kim's accusations toward the justice minister do not seem to be something inevitable, either, (because there are ways he could check facts)," the lawyer said.

Shin said SLAPP-like lawsuits are common in the entertainment industry. "You see some stars sue internet users who uploaded malicious or incorrect posts about them. Tens of hundreds of people were sued in some cases," he said. "Those who were sued would feel pressured due to the possible legal consequences and they usually don't upload such posts again. So what the stars do in response to some malicious internet users is typically a SLAPP because it can muzzle the accusers."