SEOUL– A court on Friday partially accepted an injunction seeking to stop a TV station from broadcasting the recordings of phone calls between the wife of main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol and a reporter.
The injunction was filed by Kim Keon-hee, Yoon’s wife, to stop MBC from airing recordings of her phone conversations with a staff member of the YouTube channel Voice of Seoul last year. The broadcasting was set for Sunday.
The Seoul Western District Court, which deliberated on the arguments of both sides earlier in the day, said it has decided to ban MBC from broadcasting parts of the recordings, citing Kim’s rights.
The recordings, running some seven hours, reportedly contain criticism of the Moon Jae-in government and remarks on some politically sensitive issues.
Kim’s side has argued the airing would be illegal, because the phone conversations were private, while MBC has retorted the broadcasting will serve the public interest and help voters evaluate the wife of a major presidential candidate.
Kim previously came under fire for allegedly falsifying her credentials on job applications and issued a public apology at the party’s headquarters.
Source: Yonhap News Agency