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Seoul court orders Foreign Ministry to withdraw lawsuit against MBC

Published: 20 Aug. 2025, 21:54

A screenshot of a captioned broadcast from MBC showing former President Yoon Suk Yeol's comments in a hot mic moment [SCREEN CAPTURE]

A Seoul appellate court issued a mandatory mediation order on Wednesday instructing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to withdraw its lawsuit against broadcaster MBC over its controversial subtitles regarding the hot mic moment, which occurred during former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s visit to the United States in September 2022.

The Seoul High Court delivered a written decision to both parties on Monday stating: “The plaintiff, the Foreign Ministry, shall withdraw the lawsuit, and the defendant, MBC, shall consent to this,” according to the legal community on Wednesday.

The court had previously attempted to mediate the dispute last month through coordinated negotiations, but when that effort failed, it moved to enforce mediation unilaterally. If neither side files an objection within two weeks, the mediation becomes legally binding.

“Considering the nature of the remarks, freedom of the press and expression and the social costs and side effects of the conflict, it would be more desirable for the Foreign Ministry to end the lawsuit by withdrawing it and resolve the dispute amicably,” the court said.

However, the court also stated that “the evidence submitted by Foreign Ministry is insufficient to conclude that the broadcast was false or factually inaccurate,” meaning the case does not warrant a correction order.

Regarding the controversial phrase regarding former U.S. President Joe Biden in Yoon’s remarks, the court noted that a forensic audio analysis found the words “undecipherable.”

Seoul High Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul [YONHAP]

“The evidence submitted by the Foreign Ministry does not sufficiently support the claim that the word used was what the ministry claimed it to be, and there is no other proof to verify that,” the court said.

“Taking into account the full context — the timing and location of the remarks — there is no reason to completely rule out the possibility that Yoon specified Biden,” the court added.

The ruling also referenced the presidential office’s initial lack of a clear rebuttal.

“Multiple news outlets requested clarification from the presidential office, but no firm denial or correction was made,” the court said. “If an immediate rebuttal or clarification had been issued, it likely would have influenced both the content and the tone of the coverage.”

The incident in question occurred on Sept. 22, 2022, when then-President Yoon was caught on a hot mic leaving an international conference in New York, saying, "If those [expletive] do not pass it in the [parliament], [Biden] will lose face."

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol and former U.S. President Joe Biden shake hands during a summit on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Lima, Peru, on Nov. 15, 2024. [JOONGANG ILBO]

MBC subtitled the remark as “If the U.S. Congress doesn’t approve it, what a shame for Biden,” leading to the controversy.

The presidential office later claimed Yoon had said, nallimeun, the Korean word for "throw out," rather than “Biden,” and that he was referring to Korea’s National Assembly, not the U.S. Congress.

The Foreign Ministry filed for a correction through the Press Arbitration Commission in late 2022. When no settlement was reached, it filed a lawsuit against MBC that December.

In January last year, the Seoul Western District Court ruled in favor of the Foreign Ministry, ordering MBC to issue a correction. MBC immediately appealed, and the case proceeded to the Seoul High Court.

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.
BY SHIN HYE-YEON [[email protected]]