“Nosamo is Political Force,” Court Concludes

Judge Kim Jae-hwan of Criminal Division 15 of the Seoul District Court ruled on December 24 that Park Won-Hong, the chairman of the public relations committee at the Grand National Party, was not guilty of libel in a lawsuit filed last year by Nosamo, or Roh Lovers’ Club, an electoral campaign group voluntarily formed by President’s Roh Moo-hyun’s supporters, when Park likened five Nosamo members including Myong Kye-nam, an actor, to the red guards of the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

“Nosamo is a group with political characteristics and should tolerate political condemnations to some extent, said the judge in the ruling, adding, “The course of political criticism may involve some degree of contempt. The defendant’s remark did not exceed the boundaries of political freedom.” He continued, “Although five individual members of Nosamo pressed charges against him, their personal honors were not considerably hurt as a result of Park’s remarks since they were targeted at Nosamo as a group.”

The Nosamo six brought the lawsuit against Park following his interview in May of last year with Ohmynews.com, an online news publication, in which he said, “Nosamo is like the red guards of China’s Cultural Revolution and similar to a religious cult.”

Soo-Kyung Kim skkim@donga.com