Six out of 10 respondents in a survey said they did not see the allegations raised by a journalist against the widow of late singer Kim Kwang-seok as defamation.

In a survey conducted by Realmeter, 59.1 percent of 501 respondents said that TV journalist Lee Sang-ho’s suspicions that Seo Hae-soon may have murdered Kim and deliberately let their 16-year-old daughter die should not be seen as defamation. Some 18.9 percent said the allegations constituted defamation as they were groundless, and the remaining 22 percent said they didn’t know.



In a documentary film that he produced, Lee alleged the late folk rock singer, who died by suicide in 1996 at the age of 32, may have been murdered by Seo and her brother. Kim’s brother Kwang-bok and Lee also accused Seo of negligence in letting her daughter Seo-yeon die from acute pneumonia in 2007, claiming Seo many have intended to gain sole legal rights to Kim’s musical assets. They requested an investigation into Seo-yeon’s death.

Police announced earlier this month they had found no evidence linking Seo to the death of her daughter.

Last week, Seo filed a defamation suit against Lee and Kim Kwang-bok for implicating her in the death of her daughter, seeking about 600 million won ($546,000) in damages. 

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)