President Lee Jae-myung on the 14th, regarding the final guilty verdict for attorney Jang Young-ha, who had raised the "mob ties allegation" about him, said, "Even with a ruling like this, there is not only no apology but not a single subsequent correction," adding, "Irresponsible media are scarier than a weapon."
On the same day, the president shared on X (formerly Twitter) a post by Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Lee Geon-tae reporting that attorney Jang, indicted on a charge of announcing false information, had his sentence of one year in prison suspended for two years finalized by the Supreme Court, and stated accordingly that "there are many people in the world who still think of me as tied to the mob."
The president said, "Even though this ruling has come out, the media that indiscriminately amplified and reported the baseless 'Lee Jae-myung mob ties allegation' without any verification have not only failed to apologize but have not run even a single subsequent correction," adding, "I long for a clear world without fake news, where truth and justice flow like a river."
The president also wrote to lawmaker Lee Geon-tae, "I am truly grateful, and there is much to do going forward, so I ask for your continued help." Lee, formerly a vice chair of the Democratic Party of Korea's legal committee, filed an application for adjudication in this case and previously with the court.
Meanwhile, attorney Jang previously served as legal representative for Park Cheol-min, an enforcer of Seongnam's criminal organization International Mafia. In Oct. 2021, citing Park's account, he has claimed that while serving as Seongnam mayor, the president received about 2 billion won in return for granting business favors to the International Mafia side.