A Japanese journalist denied at a court hearing Thursday charges that he had defamed South Korean President Park Geun-hye by reporting rumors about her whereabouts on the day of April’s deadly ferry sinking.
Tatsuya Kato, former head of the Seoul bureau of Japan’s conservative Sankei Shimbun newspaper, was indicted on defamation charges for writing an article that Park and an unidentified man had an alleged secret meeting on April 16, citing rumors circulated in South Korea’s financial community.
“I wrote the article to inform Japanese people of South Koreans’ awareness about the president. I have never intended to defame,” Kato, who has been banned from leaving the country, said during the first trial session held at the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul.
“Please carry out trials in a proper manner based on the law and the evidence,” Kato added.
On Aug. 3, Kato wrote an article online about Park’s whereabouts on April 16 when the Sewol ferry sank off the southwest coast, killing more than 300 people, mostly high school students on a school trip.
He cited a column carried by the Chosun Ilbo in mid-July, in which South Korea’s largest-circulation newspaper said Park’s whereabouts were unknown for seven hours, a development it said started rumors that she had met a man at an undisclosed location.
Chung Yoon-hoi, Park’s former aide who had been rumored to be with the president, was selected to appear as a witness at the request of the prosecution, court officials said.
The presidential office refuted the newspaper’s claim, saying that Park “was inside the presidential compound.”
Kato pleaded not guilty to the charges and his lawyers claimed in the trial that the article was in the public interest.
“The article was intended to tell about the dropping approval rate of President Park to Japanese people,” said Kato’s lawyer.
“The column cannot be positively concluded to be false,” the lawyer argued, adding that Kato was not aware that the report was false at the time as well.
The investigation into Kato came after a local civic group filed a complaint against Kato. Prosecutors have summoned him three times for questioning, concluding that the newspaper’s move to raise questions about Park’s whereabouts are groundless.
The indictment has sparked fierce backlash from Japan as Tokyo claims that the move has discriminated against foreign media and suppressed freedom of speech.
Before the trial on Thursday, a dozen members of the conservative group crowded the entrance to the courtroom, demanding that Kato be immediately arrested.
The next court date is scheduled on Dec. 15, court officials said. (Yonhap)
