Civic Groups to Sue TV Show for $10 Million

Two civic groups said yesterday that they will sue the TV program “PD Notebook” for 10 billion won (10 million U.S. dollars) over its alleged fabrication of facts to exaggerate the risks of American beef.

Lawyers for Citizens and the People’s Solidarity against Violent Candlelight Protests, or Nono Demo for short, will file the suit.

Lee Heon, secretary general of the lawyers group, said, “’PD Notebook’s compounded the candlelight vigils and caused great confusion in our society by exaggerating the dangers of mad cow disease and distorting facts in its report on U.S. beef imports.”

“We will demand one million won in compensation for each of 10,000 plaintiffs through the ‘Nono Demo’ Web site.”

Lee said getting the 10,000 plaintiffs will be easy since the Web site has more than 30,000 members.

Both groups put up the notice for plaintiff registration on the Web site Monday afternoon. Those wishing to join can sign up until 8 p.m. today.

On the leakage of information of certain stores nearby the downtown Seoul area of Gwanghwamun, the Special Committee to Help a Sound Protest Culture Settle in the Nation and Legal Support for Innocent Victims of Candlelight Protests held an emergency news conference yesterday morning.

“We urge a strict probe into the exposure of personal data on merchants who filed a class action suit against the People`s Association for Measures against Mad Cow Disease,” the committee said.

Three merchants whose businesses suffered from the protests and who received phone threats for joining the lawsuit were scheduled to testify at the news conference.

They decided not to testify, however, for fear of having their personal information including portraits and names exposed.

Lee Jae-gyo, an Inha University professor and member of the committee, said, “We assured the merchants that they did not have to disclose their names or business titles at the conference. We also offered them the chance to speak without exposing their faces, but they all snubbed the news conference out of fear.”

turtle@donga.com