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| A screen capture of the bad fathers blog |
By Kim Se-jeong
A local court in Suwon ruled in favor of an activist for "Kopinos," Tuesday, who revealed the faces of people failing to pay child support in a defamation suit, a decision likely to add support to those who do not receive overdue payments.
In a seven-juror-led ruling, the court acquitted Koo Bon-chang, 57, an activist and the manager of the blog (https://badfather540837381.wordpress.com/blog/) which revealed parents ― mostly fathers ― who don't pay child support for their children.
Koo was previously known for his activism for the Kopino, abandoned children born between Filipino mothers and Korean fathers. He fought for the Filipina mothers to find the Korean fathers and receive child support by revealing the fathers' personal information online. The scope of his work expanded to cover cases in Korea and he was sued for defamation last year by five people whose faces were disclosed on the blog.
In the verdict, a judge said, "The accused has not taken any money from his activity. Neither has he slandered those who appear on the blog. We consider his activity serves the public good by forcing parents to pay their overdue child support."
Koo started the blog in September 2018. The case had been closed without the face-to-face trial, a decision by the prosecution, and Koo was told to pay 3 million won to the accused. But the trial Tuesday took place at the special request of the court which deemed the case involved the public interest.
The prosecution claimed Koo's activity was a violation of the information and communications network utilization laws and was intended to defame the five plaintiffs. "Disclosure of personal information is very strict in the law and Koo went too far."
In the counterargument, Koo's legal representative pointed out that the disclosure was serving the public good.
The lawyer said "The real victims of this case are not the plaintiffs, but their children who don't get support. And the accused has no intention to keep the blog open when this issue is resolved."
Paying child support is legally binding in divorce cases but overdue payments quite often occur in Korea. To help those who don't receive the support, the government launched the Child Support Agency in 2015.
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