A Seoul court Friday dropped criminal charges against a television news reporter who broke the story on the spy agency's illegal eavesdropping on civilians during previous governments last year.
Lee Sang-ho, a reporter from television station MBC, had been indicted for violating the country's privacy law by publicly revealing evidence obtained by illegal methods.
In July last year, MBC reported the contents of a wiretapped conversation between Samsung vice chairman Lee Hak-soo and former Korean Ambassador to the United States Hong Seok-hyun, then publisher of Samsung-affiliated newspaper JoongAng Ilbo, which happened ahead of the presidential election in 1997.
According to the report, both had discussed channeling illegal campaign funds to the presidential candidates. MBC's Lee had obtained the audiotapes through former spy agent Kong Un-young, later arrested, who led a special eavesdropping unit within the National Intelligence Service (NIS) in the 1990s. Hong resigned as ambassador weeks after the report.
In lifting the charges against the reporter, the Seoul Central District Court said that Lee's disclosure of the information could be defended on public interest grounds.
"The irregular practices involved in the defendant's report and the infringement it caused in the basic rights of the people exposed should not be considered greater than the fact that the report served the public's right to know," said the court in a ruling.
"Although it is evident that the defendant and MBC had knowledge that the audiotapes had been produced by illegal methods, and that the report infringed on the rights of people involved by revealing their real names, it could not be argued that the report was far based from the common journalistic standards and methods accepted by the society."
Prosecutors did not comment on whether they will appeal the court's decision.
After the court ruling, an emotional Lee told reporters he was relieved to be free of the criminal charges.
"Today's court ruling was better than any poem or novel I have ever read in my life," he said.
The National Union of Media Workers also issued a statement welcoming the court's decision.
"The incident shows that there is a need for more discussions to draw the boundaries between the public's right to know and the protection of individual privacy," said union chairman Shin Hak-lim.
Lee's report exploded into a national scandal when it provoked the prosecutors to open a criminal investigation into spy agency officials of previous governments.
The Seoul Central District Court last month convicted Lim Dong-won, 72, and Shin Gunn, 65, both served as director of the NIS during the 1998-2003 Kim Dae-jung government, on charges of illegal eavesdropping on civilians, such as politicians, businessmen and journalists.
Both Lim and Shin were handed suspended sentences of three years each.
However, law enforcement authorities did not indict the spy agency directors under former President Kim Young-sam, who held office from 1993 to 1998, citing the expiring of the statute of limitations.
