Picture of the Day: Japanese Reporter Acquitted of Defamation of President Park

Tatsuya Kato, a Japanese journalist accused of defamation against the South Korean president, walks into the Seoul Central District Court on Dec. 17, 2015, for his sentencing trial. The court found him not guilty, saying that while his article was inappropriate, it falls under the freedom of the press. Kato, former Seoul bureau chief for Sankei Shimbun, was charged with defamation against President Park Geun-hye for his report in August suggesting that she was with her personal confidant when the passenger ferry Sewol sank on April 16, 2014. The whereabouts of the president at the time of the tragedy are one of the criticisms leveled against the government by the family members of the victims and civic groups. The prosecution had demanded a 18-month prison term for the Japanese reporter. (Yonhap)