Online commenters who repeatedly posted false claims about singer Jeong Dong-won and used profanity, threats, and mockery on online communities have been reported to authorities. The fan club that filed the complaints emphasized that Jeong is a minor.
On the morning of the 16th, singer Jeong Dong-won's fan club, Wonders, held a "press conference to report defamation by malicious comments" in front of the Yeongdeungpo Police Station in Yeongdeungpo District, Seoul, and said it would file criminal complaints against the authors of the malicious comments for defamation under the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection.
They said that, in addition to filing criminal complaints over the spread of online false information and insulting expressions targeting Jeong, they simultaneously submitted a petition to the National Human Rights Commission.
According to them, the posts subject to the complaints included content that was contrary to the facts, such as labeling Jeong a "convict" and asserting that he "can't even go to the military."
An attorney representing Wonders said, "The act of pinning non-existent falsehoods on a minor is not criticism or an expression of opinion but a clear dissemination of false information," adding, "There is no obligation to endure crime just because someone is a celebrity."
At the press conference, the Wonders manager said, "Jeong Dong-won is not an individual operator but a minor entertainer born in 2007 who works under an exclusive contract relationship," and argued, "Minor entertainers are a special class requiring protection."
After the press conference, Wonders submitted a complaint to the Yeongdeungpo Police Station in Seoul and urged an investigation.