'Han River' murderer loses appeal against newspaper over past online posts
A Seoul appellate court rejected convicted murderer Jang Dae-ho’s damages claim, ruling that a news report on his past online posts was lawfully sourced and served the public interest.
Jang Dae-ho is pictured in front of Goyang Police precinct in Gyeonggi on Aug. 21, 2019.NEWS1
Jang Dae-ho, who is serving a life sentence for murder and then throwing away dismembered body parts in the Han River in 2019, lost his appeal in a lawsuit seeking damages from a newspaper over its reporting on his past online posts.
The Seoul Central District Court ruled against Jang on Tuesday in his lawsuit against the local newspaper outlet, the Seoul Shinmun, according to legal sources on Monday.
Jang was sentenced to life in prison for killing a motel guest with a blunt object at the motel where he worked in August 2019 after the guest allegedly started an argument and refused to pay for the room. He then dismembered the body and dumped it in the Han River.
The article at issue was published after Jang was taken into custody and his identity was disclosed. It reported that Jang had posted online for 13 years, from 2004 to 2017, and had been particularly active on online portal Naver's Q&A forums.
“Just fight” and “Hit the other person in the head,” Jang wrote in one 2007 post responding to a student seeking advice about bullying at school.
The article also quoted a 2016 post in an online lodging industry community in which Jang described an altercation with a guest he believed to be a member of an organized crime group.
“If you ask, 'You think a tattoo makes you stab-proof?’ the customer's attitude changes,” Jang wrote.
Jang filed the lawsuit in December 2024, arguing that the reporter had obtained information about his private life through improper means and violated his personal rights. He sought 1 million won ($660) in damages in the appeal.
Seoul Central District CourtNEWS1
The appellate court rejected Jang's claims, as the lower court did.
“There is no evidence whatsoever to support the claim that improper means or methods were used,” the appellate court said. “Rather, it appears Jang's online posts were investigated and collected during the murder investigation, and the reporter also appears to have relied on publicly available news reports published by other media outlets.”
The judges also determined that the article served the public's right to know.
“Although Jang's online posts were made anonymously, news organizations have a responsibility to report on matters of social importance in the public interest,” the court said. “Given the seriousness of Jang's criminal case and other circumstances, the article can also be regarded as serving the public interest by fulfilling the public's right to know.”
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
