Scribe cleared of defaming South Korean president

A Japanese reporter has been acquitted of defamation in South Korea over a report speculating on the whereabouts of President Park Geun-hye at the time of a high-profile ferry accident in 2014.

“The court views the conduct of the defendant was in the realm of freedom of the press”, Judge Lee Dong-geun said at the end of a three-hour hearing, speaking for a three-judge panel.

The article picked up unproven rumors circulating in the South Korean media that the unmarried Park had disappeared for a tryst with her former aide when the boat sank off South Korea’s southern coast.

South Korean policy-makers said on Thursday the US Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates is unlikely to cause a significant blow to the country’s markets, but maintained firm action would be taken if needed.

In a press conference, Kato described the acquittal as a “due verdict” and said he hopes prosecutors will not appeal. They include teenagers who are struggling to cope with exam pressure in South Korea’s highly competitive education system, and older people who fear becoming a financial burden on their families.

“President Park really wants to improve ties with Japan this year”, a source close to the president’s office said.

The Sankei – a centre-right daily – has suggested it was being singled out by South Korean authorities for its campaign to reverse a Japanese apology for forcing Korean women into brothels during WWII.

Prosecutors had sought an 18-month prison term.

“Multiple Japanese government officials have said that this case has been an impediment to bilateral relations”, a senior foreign affairs official said on Thursday.

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said earlier Thursday that it had asked the Justice Ministry to consider Japan’s request for leniency on Kato.

Park’s government has also come under massive public criticism for its botched rescue operation during a ferry disaster previous year that killed more than 300, mostly school kids. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also welcomed the ruling saying that he hopes it will have a positive effect on their bilateral relationship. South Korea had 29.1 suicides per 100,000 people as of 2012, the most recent year for which information is available, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Health Data 2015 report.

The case has strained diplomatic relations between South Korea and Japan.