A Seoul appeals court cleared singer-artist Cho Young-nam of fraud charges Friday, citing a lack of evidence to prove his actions were illegal.

A lower court had sentenced Cho to 10 months in prison suspended for two years for passing off paintings created by his assistants as his own works. Although he had directed the creation of the paintings, he had not notified buyers that assistants had painted the artworks. 

The Seoul High Court overturned the lower court’s ruling, saying the practice of having assistants participate in the production process is common in the industry.

“The disputed artworks depict Hwatu and it is Cho’s original idea. The assistants only helped him to realize the motif into artworks,” the court said. Hwatu refers to a Korean card game that originated from Japan

“It is a widely known fact that apprenticeship in the art industry involves assisting artists in art production. As long as such a production method exists in the art industry, it is hard to call it a crime,” added the court.

Whether the art pieces were created by Cho or not also does not appear to be a matter of concern for the buyers who purchased his works, according to the court.

“Buyers had varying reasons for their purchases and it is difficult to say if Cho had a responsibility to notify the buyers that he had assistants for his artworks. It is also hard to admit Cho sought to fool the buyers to gain profit” the judge said.

The appeals court also acknowledged that Cho was the one who had come up with the motif of the art pieces and decided the titles, production methods, materials and whether to exhibit the artworks.

Cho was indicted in 2016 for selling 21 artworks painted by two assistants to 17 people between September 2011 and January 2015. He had earned a total of 153 million won ($135,900).

Responding to Friday’s ruling, Cho said the court accurately understood the modern art industry and made the right judgment.

“I express my respect for the court’s decision. (I have learned from) this case, and I will be able to paint more sincerely,” he said. Cho had denied the charges, citing that it is not illegal to hire assistants.

In the previous ruling, the lower court had deemed that the painters could not be seen merely as Cho’s assistants.

By Jo He-rim(herim@heraldcorp.com)