[RightsCon 2025] Defamation Law Undermining Freedom of Press – Media Defence Roundtable Review

Open Net Korea participated in a roundtable hosted by the Media Defence on February 24, 2025, as part of the side events of the 2025 RightsCon held in Taipei.

Media Defence is an international human rights organisation which provides legal defence to journalists, citizen journalists, and independent media around the world who are under threat for their reporting. The main goal of Media Defence is to protect journalists, citizen journalists, and media outlets from legal threats that violate the right to freedom of expression so that they can continue to report on issues of public interest.

The discussion at this roundtable was divided into two main topics. Group 1 focused on “Defamation against journalists and other forms of litigation,” while Group 2 discussed “Combatting Surveillance – legal implications of surveillance technology on freedom of expression, privacy, and civil society.” Jiwon Son and Hongki Yun participated in Group 1’s discussion.

Activists from Nepal, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Cambodia, and other countries participated in the discussion, sharing the situation in their respective nations.

The activist from Nepal, who first proposed the discussion on this issue, mentioned that there is a movement in Nepal to classify defamation through social media as a serious crime punishable by up to five years in prison, as well as a movement to introduce a real-name system. She expressed concern that such legislation would significantly restrict press freedom and freedom of expression.

Jiwon Son shared the situation in South Korea, where criminal repression against the media criticizing the president or the government is severely carried out, and discussed the problem of South Korea’s defamation law. She said,

“Currently, in South Korea, 14 media outlets have faced criminal complaints, charges, or investigations for publishing critical reports about the government or the president, and even search and seizure have been carried out. Not only defamation charges but also crimes such as illegal entry and violations of personal information protection laws are being misused as tools to suppress media activities.”

“Defamation laws in South Korea are very strict. That stipulates penalties of up to 7 years in prison, and even if the fact is true, one can still be prosecuted for defamation. There is a provision for immunity if the statement is made for a public interest, but this is an abstract and unclear concept, so it is impossible to prevent lawsuits or investigations in advance. The party filing the complaint does not necessarily expect a final conviction but instead aims to intimidate through criminal threats. In South Korea, defamation accusations can be filed by third parties. Therefore, in cases of defamation against the government or the president, most accusations are filed by the ruling party, conservative groups, or pro-presidential organizations. In South Korea, about 30,000 defamation accusations are made annually, and criminal penalties for defamation are widespread.”

“It was reported that in a survey of journalists in South Korea, about 30% of the journalists surveyed had actually faced legal lawsuits due to their reporting”

The activist from Cambodia shared that Cambodia does not have a criminal defamation law, so cases are pursued through civil lawsuits. Instead, criminal repression against journalists is often carried out through charges such as incitement or privacy violations. In the case of Kyrgyzstan, it was noted that the defamation law does not have an exemption for public interest purposes, which is a significant issue. Similar to Cambodia, incitement charges are frequently used as a tool for criminal repression against journalists in Kyrgyzstan.

Participants universally agreed that defamation laws are widely abused as a tool for suppressing journalists, and the chilling effect on press activities that report on important social issues is very serious. Participants expressed shock at the fact that in South Korea, defamation can be punished with up to 7 years in prison, and that approximately 30,000 defamation accusations are filed annually.

This roundtable discussion reaffirmed the problem of legal threats against the media and the necessity of providing responses and support. During the discussion on what kind of responses and support are needed, we emphasized that, beyond legal support for individual cases, there is a need for legal challenges to change the laws that can be used as tools for suppressing the media, so support for such efforts should be expanded.

Korean version text