Court orders journalist to pay W200m to The Boyz's Ju Haknyeon over false prostitution report

A Seoul court has ordered a journalist to pay 200 million won ($151,000) to Ju Haknyeon, a former member of K-pop group The Boyz, ruling that a report alleging Ju had paid for sex with a Japanese adult video actor-turned-entertainer was false and that the journalist had failed to make sufficient efforts to verify the claims.

According to legal sources and Yonhap, the Seoul Central District Court's Civil Division 25, presided over by Chief Judge Kwon Ki-man, ruled Friday in a damages lawsuit Ju filed against journalist Choi, finding partly for the plaintiff and ordering Choi to pay Ju 200 million won.

Choi had published articles in June last year claiming that Ju had engaged in prostitution with a Japanese adult video actor-turned-entertainer, and that Ju had initially denied the allegations before later admitting to them.

The reports ultimately led Ju's then-agency, One Hundred, to announce Ju's departure from the group and the termination of the exclusive contract.

Ju subsequently filed a 1 billion won damages lawsuit against Choi.

The court found both claims — that Ju had engaged in prostitution and that Ju had belatedly admitted to it — to be false.

"It is an excessive logical leap to infer that prostitution occurred based solely on what Choi claims to have confirmed during the reporting process," the court said. "It is difficult to conclude that Ju engaged in prostitution based only on what Choi says was confirmed."

The court also found that the evidence Choi submitted was insufficient to establish reasonable grounds for believing the reported content was true.

The court particularly noted that Choi had published an article capable of causing serious damage to the reputation and social standing of Ju, an idol singer, without making adequate efforts to verify the facts.

Choi argued that the reporting was true, or that there had been reasonable grounds to believe it was, citing conversations with Cha Ga-won, chief executive of entertainment agency One Hundred Label. The court rejected that argument.

"Choi simply presented the draft article and sought confirmation," the court said. "Choi did not verify whether there were circumstances or specific evidence related to the alleged prostitution, nor what that evidence consisted of."

The court added that "Choi stated false facts in the article and damaged Ju's reputation, causing Ju considerable psychological harm," and set the damages at 200 million won.

Meanwhile, Choi is also facing a separate criminal trial, having been indicted without detention in May on charges of defamation through false reporting in connection with the prostitution allegations against Ju.