Recently, the South Korean media industry is intensely disputing over a bill imposing punitive damages. Democratic Party Lawmaker Noh Woong-rae issued a legislative notice on a bill to include general media and portal websites as subjects for the punitive damages, which awards compensation valuing maximum of triple the damages to a prevailing plaintiff of a libel case, where damages are caused due to intentional distribution of false and distorted information. Reportedly, the media industry is strongly resisting against the bill. The opposition party and the media labor union are criticizing that “The new bill is shackling the media in the name of media reform.”

The public opinion survey result discl