Jang Won-young’s Lawsuit Against ‘Fake News Youtuber’ Sojang To Enter Conciliation Stage

According to a recent report by Star News, the 9-3 Civil Affairs Department of the Seoul Central District (Appellate) decided to refer Jang Won-young’s lawsuit against the operator of the YouTube channel “Sojang” to claim damage worth 100 million won, to mediation on March 5th. 

This is a procedure to resolve a lawsuit through mutual agreement between the involved parties. It may involve a process of reaching an agreement between both sides through a conciliation meeting. If an agreement is reached, the lawsuit will be terminated.

YouTuber Sojang has been harshly criticized by K-pop fans for spreading fake news and malicious rumors about numerous Korean artists, especially K-pop idols. This person caused a big stir as they shared groundless rumors about entertainers to gain views and attention. In July 2023, IVE’s agency Starship made headlines as they announced strict legal responses against Sojang to protect Jang Won-young and other artists. In September of the same year, major pop music organizations also urged strict punishment for all content creators that spread malicious content, including Sojang.

Later in October 2023, the court ruled in favor of Jang Won-young without a trial, and then Sojang operator filed an appeal against the sentence through their legal representative. Starship later announced that they received the information they requested information about Sojang from Google’s headquarters via the US District Court for the Northern District of California. With Google’s cooperation, the agency expressed their strong willingness to win the case and punish Sojang. 

Meanwhile, the Seoul Central District Court recently held a trial for this lawsuit on February 24 and completed it in 15 minutes. At the trial, Sojang claimed via their lawyer, saying “It was for public interest purposes, and I didn’t even know the content was not true”. The next trial is scheduled for April 3rd.

Source: daum