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Police cleared Seo Hae-soon, the widow of late singer Kim Kwang-seok (1964-1996), Friday, of the suspicion of having left her then 16-year-old daughter to die 10 years ago. The girl was the legal inheritor of her father's assets, including the copyrights to his songs.
The famed singer's widow has been the target of a witch hunt after a documentary about the singer, made by TV journalist Lee Sang-ho and released in August, raised suspicions that Kim, who committed suicide at the age of 32, was murdered and that his wife was involved in his death.
After the screening of the film, the death of their only daughter was belatedly made known to the public and speculation of Seo purposefully neglecting her child rapidly spread in the media.
Even a ruling party lawmaker joined Lee and a brother of the late singer to file a complaint with the prosecutor's office for a reinvestigation of the girl's death, claiming the woman in her early 50s as a suspected murderer of her husband and daughter.
Police questioned the widow three times and Kim's brother twice, and interviewed 45 witnesses, including the doctor who treated the girl as well as the documentary producer. They concluded there was no evidence backing such suspicions.
Unfounded accusations almost ruined the life of an innocent woman.
It is not the first time that Lee has made such a fictional "documentary." He raised a conspiracy theory in his film "Diving Bell" that the government intentionally neglected to save the passengers of the ferry Sewol.
Seo filed both criminal and civil complaints against Lee and the singer's brother and Lee's company for false accusations against her.
The lesson for our society from this case is not to get carried away with fake news raised by some irresponsible media outlets.
