Woori Home Shopping Co., Ltd. (“Lotte Home Shopping”) filed an appeal, seeking the revocation of the business suspension disposition imposed by the Ministry of Science and ICT (“MSIT”).  Representing Lotte Home Shopping in the litigation, Kim & Chang’s Technology Media & Telecommunications Practice and Administrative & Public Law Litigation Practice successfully obtained a favorable judgement by the court. 

Details:

Under the Broadcasting Act, a program provider must obtain approval from the MSIT to conduct its business, and must acquire re-approval before the initial approval expires.  In case of a failure to obtain re-approval, a program provider may not continue its business.  Thus, it is crucial for a program provider to acquire re-approval to continue its business. 

The re-approval requires submission of the provider’s business plan, which is one of the key documents subject to review.  Lotte Home Shopping received a business suspension disposition from the MSIT (formerly, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning), which prevented it from broadcasting during prime time (8-11 a.m. and 8-11 p.m.) for six months on the grounds that it provided false information in the business plan submission.

However, in principle, administrative dispositions should serve their functions as sanctions, but should be of reasonable extent, and should also be within the scope of permissible discretionary authority.  

Our Representation:

Based on the above principle, Kim & Chang conducted in-depth fact finding, and uncovered the circumstances that could rebut the MSIT's allegation of fraudulent re-approval and prove substantial damages to be suffered by Lotte Home Shopping and its partner companies due to the MSIT’s disposition.  We then presented such circumstances in detail and successfully convinced the court.  As a result, we obtained the Seoul High Court’s decision that revoked the business suspension disposition issued by the MSIT.