Workers’ Solidarity (WS) filed a defamation lawsuit against Jeon Ji-yun (a man in his 50s) who has led a baseless smear campaign against WS for a long time, claiming WS committed ‘secondary aggression against a victim of sexual violence’ (‘secondary aggression’ for short). WS won the case as Jeon’s core claims in his smear campaign were found to be false. However, Jeon is still spreading already-debunked rumors and even distorting the court’s ruling as if WS lost the case and its wrongdoings were proven in the lawsuit.

In response, I would like to present the core issues of the case and the court’s actual decision, and reveal the truth that has been uncovered during the trial as someone who has witnessed the trials in person and closely followed the case over the past three years.

The courts ruled unambiguously in favor of WS

First and foremost, WS won in the lawsuit against Jeon.

The court ruled that Jeon must compensate WS in the amount of KRW 5 million for the damage he caused by spreading falsehoods, such as defamation and obstruction of business. For his part, Jeon filed a countersuit against WS, but his case was fully dismissed for lack of merit. The appellate court’s decision was no different to the trial court’s. The decision has been confirmed since Jeon lost the case and did not appeal.

But Jeon blatantly lies, claiming WS did not appeal and failed to issue a statement refuting the court ruling, in an attempt to create the impression that WS lost the case.

The court-ordered compensation amount shows the court considered Jeon’s act of spreading misinformation and the damage caused to WS as quite serious. Korean courts are well known for awarding stingy damages compared to other countries, and the meaning of the KRW 5 million award in this case should be clear to anyone familiar with the Korean legal system.

In addition, the rulings of the trial court and that of appellate court were identical, meaning there was no controversy. Anyone could expect that the same decision to be rendered should the case be brought to the supreme court. Then why on earth would WS appeal (and spend hefty sums in lawyer fees)? Perhaps the expression of “giving up on appeal” is more suitable for the party standing to lose three trials in a row. Jeon appealed after the first trial to overturn the ruling, but again he lost the second trial.

The court found Jeon’s core claims to be false

The court ruled that the core claims used by Jeon to accuse WS as an organization committing ‘secondary aggression’ were false. This means his accusations that WS “bullied the victim, calling the woman a liar”, “only listened to the accused and covered up the case to let him off the hook”, “revealed the victim’s personal information and committed personal attacks on her”, etc. were all found to be false.

As a result of such baseless accusations, WS members have suffered immensely from suspicion, ostracization, and exclusion by fellow social movement activists.

The court also ruled that WS’sinvestigation and judgment regarding the alleged sexual assault by Park, a member of its steering committee at the time, were legitimate.

Even the presiding judge snapped at Jeon when he kept describing WS as ‘an organization responsible for sexual violence’, saying: “you know it was not WS that committed the sexual violence”. The key issue here was whether WS fairly addressed the allegation of sexual violence made against its member. On this, the court ruled that WS did not commit ‘secondary aggression’ such as “only listening to the perpetrator to let him off the hook and cover up the case”, as claimed by Jeon.

Initially this case began when a woman, J, stated in public that she had been a victim of sexual violence, and in response WS requested a joint investigation to uncover the truth. WS proposed to J a joint investigation with an organization trusted by the victim to punish the perpetrator.

It was a proposal that any reasonable person would consider as fair. But J and Jeon (J’s representative) rejected the proposal, calling it another act of “secondary aggression against a victim, by suspecting the victim as a liar”. He even argued “he doesn’t want the perpetrator to be punished” and “[a punishment on the perpetrator] is just a ploy to disavow responsibility”.

WS also proposed an investigation by a third-party organization, but they completely rejected even that.

WSwas left with no other option than to investigate and decide the case in accordance with its own procedures. Despite the limitations caused by J and Jeon’s refusal, WS carried out an investigation as thoroughly and fairly as possible, taking the victim’s claims as evidence for the case, and imposed disciplinary measures. The legitimacy of WS’s investigation and judgment was acknowledged by the court.

Only by lying in court did Jeon manage to avoid an even more severe penalty

Jeon says WS should admit its wrongdoings that even the court verified; I wish to return those words straight back to him. Moreover, the only reason Jeon could avoid a penalty even more severe than what he received is because Jeon covered up his faults with blatant lies, denied his own words and deeds, and pretended ignorance of damning facts.

This is crucial because what Jeon said in court are at odds with stories of WS’ wrongdoings that many individuals and organizations would have heard from him. He even lied in some organizations’ names to justify himself. Below a few examples among many.

First, as mentioned earlier, Jeon claimed WS’s proposal to J to co-investigate the matter was a ‘secondary aggression’ that bullies the victim and refused even a joint investigation with an organization trusted by the victim. However, when asked in court “Is the proposal to investigate the matter a secondary aggression? Are you saying there shouldn’t be an investigation after having made an allegation?”, he lied saying “there was no reason to refuse an investigation and South Korean Coalition for Anti-discrimination Legislation (CADL for short) andKorean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) closely investigated and uncovered the truth”.

This was a strikingly shameless lie. CADL and KCTU did not investigate the case, citing J’s refusal as reason. Jeon himself made sure of it by vocally opposing any investigation.

Evidence of Jeon screaming at a CADL meeting against investigating the case (the minutes and audio recording of the meeting) was submitted to court. KCTU did not investigate the original case either: this is confirmed in a report from an official body of KCTU. Neither CADL nor KCTU has yet corrected Jeon’s lies in court, knowingly or not.

Second, Jeon claimed “WS had already known who the perpetrator was even before the victim named him; they protected him, bullied her, and forcibly made this case public”. Such claim was the crucial basis for many movement organizations to consider WS as some sort of a criminal gang hell-bent on protecting its organization, and for them to join a petition to exclude WS from the movement.

However, an audio file sent to WS was submitted to court as evidence, which records J naming the perpetrator and demanding an investigation. In response, Jeon glossed over the fact saying “What I meant was J did not name the perpetrator publicly”. He then made the bizarre claim that naming is not naming unless done publicly.

Actually this was not the first time this crucial piece of evidence was presented. The recorded file was there even at the outset of Jeon’s lying crusade. But this smoking gun didn’t stop Jeon from continuing his blatant lies over the past few years, probably thinking ‘Who would look that carefully into evidence in someone else’s case?’ Deplorably, only one social movement organization retracted their petition to condemn WS after looking into the evidence WS presented.

Third, Jeon has organized campaigns to ostracize WS whenever the opportunity arose, calling for a boycott on all events hosted by WS and urging groups not to join any movement involving WS.

But in court, Jeon denied all such activities. He stated that “I have never asked for the ostracization of WS and I even opposed such a campaign. I’ve opposed the expression ‘WS OUT’”.

However, a report by a co-organizer of With Refugees Joint Action was submitted as evidence, which describes how Jeon “insisted on cutting off relations [with WS] as the only way”. Also submitted was evidence of Jeon inciting “WS OUT”. Jeon responded by saying “I did it only once, as I got emotional”. For various other actions, he found other people and other organizations to blame.

Fourth, Jeon has condemned WS for “conducting an investigation secretly from the victim”. This was the core foundation of his claim that WS’s investigation and disciplinary measures were unfair and unjust, as WS ignored the victim and only listened to the perpetrator to let him off the hook.

As contrary evidence, WS submitted an email it had sent to J to inform her of its own investigation and to request a meeting. The WS Disputes Committee asked J if she would be willing to meet for the investigation, and requested that if she did not wish to meet in person, then at least to send in writing what she would like WS to know. Jeon pretended all throughout the trial that he wasn’t aware of this.

Jeon is the one who must admit to the wrongdoings found by the court

Such examples are just a tip of the iceberg. Many more (shocking) examples exist, but I wish not to recount them here any more.

Instead, I’d like to point out that even though Jeon’s lies, denials, and fake arguments may have saved him from the worst possible legal defeat, they nonetheless serve to highlight one thing: that the entire foundation of the smear campaign against WS has collapsed, since its chief instigator has himself denied his key claims.

Credibility requires consistency. Who would trust anyone who says different things then and now, or in and out of court?

Jeon has contradicted himself not just in and out of court. He has presented himself as an advocate for the victim since 2016, but his previous actions and words were completely at odds with this. He said he had “already known that J had been sexually assaulted” in 2003, but did not report the fact to WS for over 10 years since, and cultivated a close relationship with Park – whom J named as the perpetrator – in the WS editorial team. Jeon even tried to recruit Park to his faction in 2013. At the time, J was already in Jeon’s faction, and it was obvious that if Jeon got Park on board, the victim would have had to face the perpetrator every day.

By now Jeon has to admit that his narrative of WS’ ‘secondary aggression’ is crumbling under the weight of his own lies and deceit. He would be brazen in the utmost if he carries on with his cover-up and slander in the belief that no one would find out about what happened in the courtroom.

If Jeon has any sort of conscience, shouldn’t he publicly admit that he lied in court by saying CADL and KCTU had conducted an investigation on the original case? Obviously, such an admission would imply it was wrong of Jeon to reject any investigation of alleged sexual violence in the first place, and would thereby demolish the foundation of his campaign to portray WS’ investigation proposal as a form of ‘secondary aggression’ which casts doubt on the victim and denies the fact of sexual violence.

If Jeon has any sense of conscience, he must admit to hiding the fact that the victim had named the accused, whether “publicly” or not. He must notify the facts to the civic groups that believed his lies and signed the petition to condemn WS, to rectify his wrongs.

It is absolutely unethical for him to deceive people yet again by suggesting WS lost the defamation case.

The person who has to acknowledge the wrongdoings confirmed by the court is no one else but Jeon. He must not continue his claims that have been found to be false. He must stop dividing the movement and pitting activists against one another by shamelessly resurrecting the slander he himself had to deny in court.

* If you want further details or evidence, feel free to contact us, and we can provide documents and recording files.