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Shin Sang-chul

A district court has given a suspended sentence to Shin Sang-chul, former manager of a website called Surprise and former member of the joint military and civilian taskforce that investigated the sinking of the Cheonan corvette. Shin had alleged that the South Korean government and military had faked the cause of the Cheonan’s sinking.

On Jan. 25, Hon. Lee Heung-kwon, a judge in criminal division No. 36 at the Seoul Central District Court, convicted Shin on charges of defamation according to the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Data Protection, etc. and sentenced him to eight months in prison, with the sentence suspended for two years.

In its ruling, the court accepted the conclusions of the joint team of investigators. “Given the testimony of the surviving crew members and fact that the torpedo propeller that was recovered is identical with North Korean design plans, it appears that a North Korean torpedo exploded underwater, creating a shock wave and a bubble jet that cut the Cheonan corvette in half and caused it to sink,” the court said.

However, the court concluded that 32 of 34 pieces written by Shin did not contain defamation. “The government and military’s monopolization of information and the inaccuracy of the information it did provide in the initial response to the accident could have given credence to such allegations. The allegations Shin raised were motivated by the public interest, and it is unlikely that they were meant as slander,” the judge said.

The judge did conclude that two pieces were defamatory, containing false information that was intended to slander. One of these pieces claimed that the government and navy deliberately delayed the search for survivors in order to fabricate causes for the sinking; another alleged that South Korea’s Minister of National Defense had covered up and fabricated evidence.

Shin was booked without detention in 2010 on charges of defaming the Minister of National Defense and members of the joint investigation in articles that he posted between Mar. 2010 and June 2010 on websites, including Surprise.

By Seo Young-ji, staff reporter

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