South Korean Court orders actor Kim Soo-hyun to narrow YouTube video deletion request

A Seoul Central District Court has instructed actor Kim Soo-hyun to specify and reduce the scope of his request to delete 45 YouTube videos. Kim filed a preliminary injunction against Kim Se-ui, the representative of the YouTube channel ‘Garo Sero Institute’, alleging that the videos contained defamatory content including terms such as “pedophilia”, “obscene”, and “pervert”.

During a hearing on December 4, the court noted that the requested videos appeared to contain advertisements and other topics unrelated to the actor. The presiding judge expressed caution regarding a blanket deletion, stating that the fact that Kim Se-ui has been indicted in a related criminal case does not automatically prove the claims in the videos are false. The court emphasized that special circumstances are required to justify the deletion of entire videos due to constitutional protections for freedom of expression.

Kim Se-ui has argued that the request is overly broad and that the truth of the allegations is still being contested in criminal proceedings. The court has ordered Kim Soo-hyun to submit a refined list of specific videos by December 20. A final decision is expected after the court reviews further arguments from both parties by December 11.