A well-known conservative online columnist was ordered by a local court on Wednesday to compensate Lee Jung-hee, the head of the minor opposition Unified Progressive Party (UPP), for calling her a "pro-Pyongyang leftist."
Siding with Lee in a libel suit, the Seoul Central District Court ordered Byun Hee-jae to pay 15 million won ($13,500) in compensation, saying that there is no truth in his claims.
Byun called the UPP head a "pro-Pyongyang leftist" and accused her of joining a pro-North Korean group a total of 22 times on his Twitter account, according to court records.
In the damages suit, Lee demanded a total of 550 million won in compensation from a number of people, including Byun, and conservative media outlets for defamation.
In the same ruling, the court also ordered Rep. Lee Sang-il of the main Saenuri Party and two conservative media outlets -- the New Daily and Chosun Ilbo -- to provide compensation but dismissed a suit against another conservative newspaper columnist, Kim Jin. (Yonhap News)
