Appeals Court Confirms Suspended Sentence for Ex-KTV Chief Over Censorship
South Korea's Seoul High Court upheld a one-year suspended prison term for former KTV head Lee Eun-woo, who ordered the removal of captions criticizing President Yoon Suk-yeol's 2024 martial-law decree.
A Seoul High Court panel affirmed the Seoul Central District Court's June judgment, keeping a suspended one-year prison sentence for former public broadcaster KTV chief Lee Eun-woo. Lee had been charged with abusing his position after ordering the removal of on-air captions that described President Yoon Suk-yeol's 2024 martial-law announcement as unconstitutional and illegal. The court found his directive violated principles of balanced reporting and infringed on citizens' right to know, resulting in a sentence of one year imprisonment, suspended for two years, on counts of abuse of authority and interference with rights.
KTV is part of the Korea Policy Broadcasting Service, which falls under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The decision underscores judicial scrutiny of government-linked media actions.
Why it matters
It highlights judicial checks on media censorship linked to the government in South Korea.
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