Mr. C, the French homeowner police have fingered as the father of two dead infants found frozen in his freezer, is strongly denying that he fathered the infants, reports MBC.
He is claiming the DNA test results were mistaken, and that he would take legal action against what he calls a clear act of slander.
The National Institute of Scientific Investigation, meanwhile, claims that there’s no way their results could be mistaken in this case.
Police, through the French and Korean embassies, have asked Mr. C to return to Korea for investigation. It should be pointed out, however, that there is no extradition treaty between Korea and France.
Oh, and DNA tests revealed that the 49-year-old Filipina maid was NOT the mother of the children. Not that anyone thought she was, anyway. And as for the white teenage girl seen in front of Mr. C’s home, the witness can’t seem to remember whether she saw her in June or July, and police now presume she was just a friend of Mr. C’s son.
NOTE: Just a theory here. I’m no CSI, but might it be possible for the DNA analysts to have mistaken Mr. C for one of his sons? Just thinking out loud…
26 Comments
If he is not the father, I hope he takes the Joongang Ilbo to court for all its worth for printing his full name on more than one occasion.
He might have a case against the JoongAng even if he is the father. I’m really not qualified to discuss legal matters, but like I said, I was surprised they ran the name. I can only assume for now that they know what they are doing.
I asked the reporter and received this reply:
“안녕하세요.
저는 중앙일보 사회부에 ["K"모씨 reporter]이라고 합니다.
지난번에 보내주신 편지는 잘 받았습니다. 바빠서 답장을 못드린 점 죄송합니다.
영자신문은 별도의 뉴스룸에서 제작합니다. 프랑스인의 실명을 쓰면서 변호사와 법적인 문제를 협의했다고는 전해들었습니다. 더 자세한 내용은 영문 뉴스팀에서 잘 알 것 같습니다.
다만 저희는 자체적으로 판단해 이니셜로 쓴 것입니다.
관심감사합니다.”
That would make sense.
I suppose so, but it does leave the question unanswered. I had asked that particular reporter, because his name was on the byline on both the Korean-language and English-language articles.
I find it curious too that the Korea Times claimed that the man’s name was “undisclosed”, which is clearly false.
So, let me get this straight, a newspaper published TOO much information? It served its readers TOO well and should be sued for doing so?
The Korean media is clearly much more tentative here, than Western media — and with good reason. A bare 20 years ago, censors were still sitting in newsrooms. However, newspapers should be congratulated, not condemned, for becoming stronger and more independent. The JoongAng DAILY (NOT the JoongAng ILBO) deserves kudos for acting more like a strong newspaper. The guy was not and has not been convicted of a crime at this point. And, in a larger debate, if he IS arrested, should it be a crime then to publish his name? I know it’s against the rules in Korea, but it should n’t be.
Seoulclub;
Two points. First, printing the name of someone ACCUSED is different than printing the name of someone who is GUILTY. Note that ARRESTED does *not* equal GUILTY either. If he is not found guilty, he will forever have this hanging over his head despite what a court determines. Fair-minded people tend to understand the logic behind this, which is why such laws exist in first world nations, and those aspiring to be so. Second, the name of the newspaper is translated as ‘Joongang Daily,’ but Romanized from Korean as ‘Joongang Ilbo,’ which is also a completely legitimate way of referring to the paper.
Seoulclub: so you’re saying a newspaper should be able to print a man’s name in connection with any given crime regardless of there being no charges, nor even formal allegations made ?
How about this scenario: ‘yesterday a young Korean woman was found beaten to death in her home, an American/Canadian/insert foreign devil of choice, Mr Seoulclub of Seoul, was seen running from the vicinity shortly after.’
The paper will omit the fact that you’re an avid jogger and have been using that route for the past 3 years, having never encountered the girl in your life, the story will go front page to get everyones attention (and 1200 won) … your life is about to change drastically all for the sake of one irresponsible reporter (and I guess their editorial staff).
Back on topic though this case just gets curiouser and curiouser, I’m still hoping against hope Mr C. will come back to Korea and we can all find out what really happened.
peace.
Actually, printing the name of the accused or one who may be a witness or suspect is commonly done in the United States because our theory is that the workings of the state’s judicial apparatuses belong to the people and therefore the people have a right to know. Civil justice is similarly open to the public. Korea rejects this principle — what the state does is the state’s business and the people ought to mind their betters. And additionally, it is thought that the privacy interest of the innocent (and the guilty) outweigh the general public’s right to know about the affairs of their neighbors, except in cases where the subject person is a public figure. (This means that it’s really hard to do credit-risk evaluation, because guys who have a string of judgments against them are a bad credit risk but here nobody can find out about it.)
Korea’s defamation law is in principle quite strict. Elements of malice and falsity are both irrelevant to analysis of criminal defamation — publication and injury to reputation are enough. And this is why Korean newspapers give their citizens the benefit of pseudonyms such as “D Motor Company” and “Mr. C” when writing about the misconduct of non-public figures.
dogbertt…can you translate the response you got from the korean reporter? thanks.
I still looking forward to that made-for-TV movie.
Well, Attorney Carr said it perfectly. What I arguing are two things: the names of people arrested for a crime should be printed and people who are not accused of wrongdoing don’t need protection, either.
It’s all part of transparency of government and the judiciary — and leads to a more fair justice system. Say, for example, that Unification Minister Lee Jeong-seok was arrested on a trumped-up charge, such as drug use, when he was clearly set up — it’s in HIS interest for the public to know about the arrest. If there are enough charges for someone to be arrested, his or her name should be published.
Secondly, if someone lives at a house where a crime may or may not have occurred, his or her name should be published, too. It’s in the public’s interest.
Finally, the JoongAng Ilbo is the Korean-language mass circulation paper in Seoul. The JoongAng Daily is a separate publication in English, distributed with the International Herald Tribune.
I think that’s rather a naive view to take of the issues Seoulclub, I believe a person who is accused of wrongdoing but has in fact done no wrong most certainly needs judicial protection from media types who stand to make money by insinuating his or her guilt.
Call me cynical but I do not believe most people are wise enough to read media reports in their deserved light and await the full and considered judicial process to run its course - hell put enough marginalising insinuations and circumstancial ‘evidence’ in a few consecutive stories and I think there are a great many people who will flat out reject a verdict of innocence even if it is pronounced.
I’m of the mind that the law in this regard should safeguard the rights of the innocent.
If a media outlet can be trusted to fully disclose all facts relevent to given situation there is pragmatically little need for rules to regulate identification of persons involved (or perhaps not involved) but I for one do not give most (if any) media sources that sort of credence so I argue in favour of regulation.
peace.
“Hello.
I am reporter Kim of the Joongang Ilbo’s Society section. I received and read your previous e-mail [I had to e-mail him and his editor twice before I got a response]. I’m sorry I could not answer, but I was busy. The English edition of our newspaper handles its own newsroom separately. They informed me that when printing the Frenchman’s name, they did so after consultation with a Korean attorney regarding legal problems. If you want more details, they would know better than I. However, we [I assume he means the Korean-language edition] ourselves decided to print the man’s initial.
Thank you for your interest.”
You know what, though? They share the same ownership. The same reporter had a byline for each article that appeared in the respective papers. The e-mail addresses for the editor, newsdesk, etc. of the Joongang Daily belong to the Joongang Ilbo’s domain. However, according to the reporter, they have separate newsrooms.
I don’t really know what your point is in pointing that out, but beyond my own opinion on whether the man’s full name should have been printed, I’m curious why the two editions have such a different policy and I wanted to know why.
Complete freedom of the press is, perhaps, more of an American idea. And there are certainly many times where that freedom has gone too far. However, in the long run, the more openness and transparency that is allowed, the best it is in all situations. When someone is arrested and later found not guilty, newspapers have the responsibility to do so. And in most cases, I think they do.
To quote Thomas Jefferson
Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.
I received a reply to my query from an editor of the Joongang Daily who stated in effect, as Seoulcub does, that the Joongang Daily follows international standards of journalism to the extent possible under Korean law. This includes printing names instead of using initials, where such is appropriate.
Perhaps other Korean newspapers will follow suit someday.
Even if he was [and of course until a court of law has proven it, yada yada], he could start a legal action for libel anyway [our resident lawyer can correct me if I'm wrong].
Actually, I can’t. My partner and I are on multiple retainers to the JoongAng Ilbo Group. We have not been consulted in relation to this matter, but it’s not polite, ethical, or indeed sensible to throw stones at a client.
Even small ones?
Even if Frenchie is the father that doesn’t necessarily make him the murderer of the two infants, although it does make him a prime suspect in the investigation.
For those of us who are more interested in the details of the crime itself, rather than peripheral and irrelevant legal issues, there’s a lot of gaps of information. For example, did Frenchie volunteer his DNA sample to the CSI? Where did that sample come from? There is no mention of his sons DNA being tested.
Furthermore, why did Frenchie leave the country when such a macabre incident took place in his own home? If he is indeed innocent, you’d figure that he’d remain in place (vacation or no) to make sure that at least his name is cleared and to cooperate in the full investigation. Something doesn’t add up.
bluejives—Nothing about this case adds up. There’s a lot of screwy things going on, and it gets seedier by the day.
Knowing the French psyche for having practiced these people for, oh, close to 40 years, if the French tenant of that house is guilty, of course he ran; and if he’s not – either because he’s not the father of the kids and needs to have a chat with his kids, if he has any of nubile age, or because he may be the father but realizes that he’s got unwanted mail while away on vacation – he has some serious damage control to do in France. Plus, it’s the sacrosanct holidays, away from Korea, which he and his family has been waiting for 11 months. I bet he was grumbling on the plane back to Korea for that meeting – I’d imagine he got even more grumpy after the discovery
People outside France usually don’t realize how their life is centered on the benefits side of their job, esp the summer vacation, to the point of being unreasonable. Makes me crazy all the time but there you go.
Of course, checking whether he withdrew large amounts from his bank accounts before scooting – if any, expats are usually paid from HQ in their French or, ahem, Hong Kong, bank accounts – would be interesting…
I would have to agree that freedom of the press is a great ideal. However as the reporters response indicates reporters lead hectic and busy lives. With the “deadlines” that are a part of their trade do you really believe that they can get the “whole story” all the time?
Next question, what is a “whole story” anyway?
“NOTE: Just a theory here. I’m no CSI, but might it be possible for the DNA analysts to have mistaken Mr. C for one of his sons? Just thinking out loud… ”
Having watched CSI as well; if it was one of the kids wouldn’t only half of the DNA match the sample taken from the father?
“Just a theory here. I’m no CSI, but might it be possible for the DNA analysts to have mistaken Mr. C for one of his sons? Just thinking out loud… ”
I don’t know. How old are they?
Does the blood on the floor match the blood from the babies?