By Chelsea J. Carter

SANTA ANA, (AP)-A Southern California judge has ordered the son and daughter-in-law of South Korean President Kim Dae-jung to give a deposition in a defamation lawsuit brought by one of the government’s most vocal critics against a Korean broadcasting company.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Randall L. Wilkinson gave Kim Hong-gul and his wife, Kim Mi-kyung, l0 days to designate a place and time to give testimony in the lawsuit, according to court documents made public Tuesday.

The action is the latest in a series of events that began on the floor of Korea’s National Assembly last year when Lee Shin-bom, a member of the opposition Grand National Party and then-member of the assembly, accused the president’s son of taking money from an alleged arms deal to buy houses in the United States.

The government and the Kim family denied the allegations, and Los Angeles-based Korean Television Enterprises, in an editorial, called Lee a "professional liar."

Lee, who is a visiting member of the faculty at the University of California, Irvine, sued KTE for defamation and libel, naming the president’s son and his wife as third-party witnesses.

Kim’s son, who lives in Southern California on a student visa, has said in court documents that he can add nothing to the lawsuit. His wife has said the same, and both refused to give depositions in February, according to court documents.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled in favor of KTE, saying Lee did not produce enough evidence to prove his case.

Lee, who is appealing, then filed a lawsuit against the Kims in neighboring Orange County in an effort to force them to testify.

Telephone calls to Kim’s attorney, John G. Connolly, were not returned Tuesday, but in court documents Connolly argued that Lee’s actions were politically motivated.

"Plaintiff seeks the depositions not for any legitimate discovery purpose in this action, but instead to harass the Kims and through them harass Kim Hong-gul’s father, the president of South Korea," he said in a motion requesting that the couple not be ordered to testify.

The judge denied Connolly’s motion as well a s another to seal the transcripts. He scheduled a May l6 status hearing on the case.

Lee himself faces five libel suits in South Korea filed by high-ranking government officials who he alleged were involved in corruption and other scandals.

Lee, who lost a bid for re-election, has insisted he was entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution because he made the allegations in speeches on the floor of Parliament.

South Korean lawmakers are not legally responsible for any remarks they make at formal parliamentary meetings, but the immunity privilege does not apply to informal remarks made inside Parliament.

When the government stopped Lee from leaving the country earlier this year, expressing fears he wouldn’t return home, he accused officials of abusing their power in an effort to suppress their critics.

The travel ban was lifted after UCI’s Center for Global Peace and Conflict Studies sent a letter urging President Kim to let the former lawmaker come to the United States.