Seoul: The Supreme Court has affirmed a lower court’s decision to cancel the six-month shutdown penalty originally imposed on cable channel MBN by the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) in 2020. The penalty was due to allegations of illegal financing and accounting fraud.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the court sided with MBN in its legal battle against the KCC, which had ordered the suspension of MBN’s operations in October 2020, citing violations of the Broadcasting Act. The penalty included a six-month grace period for the network to address the issues.

MBN contested the penalty, but initially, the Seoul Administrative Court upheld the KCC’s decision in 2022. The court found MBN guilty of engaging in illegal financing when acquiring its business license in 2010 and committing accounting fraud to hide the violations.

Despite MBN’s admissions of misconduct, the Seoul High Court overturned the decision in September of the previous year. The court acknowledged the network’s infractions but determined that they did not significantly compromise MBN’s function as a news broadcaster.

The KCC subsequently appealed the High Court’s decision to the Supreme Court. However, the Supreme Court confirmed the lower court’s ruling, finding no substantial legal errors in the judgment.