Police have launched an investigation into Kim Byung-heon, head of the civic group "Action for the Abolition of the Comfort Women Act," on suspicion of insulting comfort women victims while demanding the removal of the Statue of Peace.
According to police on Jan. 12, the Seoul Seocho Police Station booked Kim on charges including defamation of the deceased, insult, and violating the Act on Assemblies and Demonstrations.
Kim is suspected of holding an unreported rally on the 31st in front of the main gate of Seocho High School in Seocho-gu, Seoul, and unfurling a banner that read, "You set up a comfort woman statue on campus and give career counseling for prostitution," among other phrases.
Kim also, in Oct. last year, after police restricted rallies to remove statues of young girls in front of schools in Yangsan and Seoul, wrote on social media (SNS) that it was a "hideous symbol of a scam," a post that could be interpreted as an insult to comfort women victims.
Earlier, the Yangsan Police Station in South Gyeongsang Province transferred the entire case to the Seocho Police Station at the request of the Korean National Police Agency National Office of Investigation (NOI) in connection with Kim's case.
The Seocho Police Station has been designated as the lead agency for intensive investigations into similar unreported illegal protest cases and is currently investigating after receiving related cases from the Jongno Police Station, the Seongdong Police Station, and others.