As regards this provision, the Court observed that “Firstly, even absent
a proof of truth of the defamatory statement, when the charged acted
with mistaken but justified belief in its truth, the crime of defamation is
not established. Secondly, the requirement of ‘if solely concerned with
the public interest’ should be broadened in its application when viewed
from the perspective of guaranteeing freedom of the press. Public value
of the facts that objectively need to be known by citizens ought to be
recognized with due regard to the citizens’ right to know, and the public
interest with respect to a private person may be acknowledged by
considering the nature of the societal activities this person is involved
with and the societal implications of such involvement.” (See Constitutional
Court 97Hun-Ma265, June 24, 1999.) By this language, the Court has
declared that chilling freedom of expression should be minimized
through a flexible application of Article 310 of the Criminal Act.
Likewise, the Supreme Court observed that “‘true facts’ in Article 310
of the Criminal Act means facts, considering the purport and intent of
their general content, whose major thrust accords with objective facts
and whose details can be slightly different from the truth or somewhat
exaggerated, and ‘if solely concerned with the public interest’ in the
above provision indicates the facts alleged must be, from an objective
standpoint, concerned with the public interest and the defamer must
have, from a subjective perspective, alleged the facts for that interest.
Here, facts ‘concerned with the public interest’ include not only those
facts concerned with the interests of the State, society, and the majority
of members of the general public, but also those facts concerned with
the agendas and interests of a particular social group or all members
thereof. Article 310 of the Criminal Act may not be excluded from
being applied so long as the primary motive or purpose of the defamer
is concerned with the public interest, even if his or her ancillary
purposes or motives include personal benefit.” (Supreme Court
2006Do2074, December 14, 2007.) By this language, the Supreme Court
has broadly construed the scope of application of the above Article 310,
- 9 -