Police said they will respond strictly to various illegal acts including defamation against victims of the Japanese military's "comfort women." The stance came a day after President Lee Jae-myung pointed out protests calling for the removal of the "Statue of Peace."
The Korean National Police Agency said in a news release on the 7th that it will "tighten management of rallies and protests, focusing on areas around schools and locations where the statues are installed, and respond strictly to illegal acts such as vandalism or defamation of the statues."
The Korean National Police Agency noted that some hard-line conservative civic groups have recently been touring the statues nationwide and spreading distorted facts or hate acts.
The Korean National Police Agency designated the Seocho Police Station in Seoul as the lead investigative unit and decided to consolidate comfort women and statue-related complaints handled by each station and assign them to Seocho. Police plan to investigate by applying charges such as defamation of the deceased and insult.
The Korean National Police Agency also plans to step up patrols around statues installed nationwide to prevent illegal acts, and to restrict or ban rallies and protests near schools that infringe on students' right to learn.
Earlier, the civic group "Abolish the Comfort Women Act National Action" became the subject of an investigation on suspicion of unfurling banners reading "Erect a comfort woman statue on campus and offer career counseling for prostitution" in front of the main gate of Seocho High School in Seocho District without filing a report with the competent police station.
The president the day before shared a link to an online article about the investigation on social media and criticized it as "brainless defamation of the deceased."