A Seoul court has allowed the YouTube channel “Open Mind TV” to air hours of telephone conversations involving the wife of main opposition People Power Party(PPP) presidential candidate Yoon Suk Yeol with the exception of content mentioning her and Yoon’s private life.
The Seoul Central District Court reached the decision on Wednesday with regard to a provisional injunction that Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon-hee, filed against the channel to stop it from broadcasting the recordings.
The court said the recorded phone calls were in public interest and would allow voters to determine whether she makes reasonable judgment based on objective grounds.
The latest decision is contrary to a decision reached by the Seoul Western District Court last Friday which partially adopted an injunction filed against MBC by Kim.
That ruling allowed MBC to only play portions of the calls that are not related to cases under investigation and prohibited the broadcaster from airing casual day-to-day conversations that do not express Kim's political opinions.
Following the court ruling, MBC aired on Sunday part of the seven hours of conversations that a reporter from the YouTube channel “Voice of Seoul” recorded with Kim between July and December last year.
“Open Mind TV” and “Voice of Seoul” also aired the recordings within the allowed boundaries.