Police are investigating conservative YouTuber Ahn Jeong-kwon, who raised allegations suggesting that Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok made a transaction with Presidential Secretariat No. 1 aide Kim Hyun-ji to quash an investigation targeting him.
The Yeongdeungpo Police Station in Seoul said on the 17th that Ahn has been booked and is under investigation on suspicion of defamation under the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, among other charges.
Ahn is accused of spreading false information on his broadcast in Oct. last year that "the leader engaged in a transaction with Presidential Secretariat No. 1 aide Kim Hyun-ji to resolve his Military Service Act violation and allegations of sexual bribery." It is known that the leader's side filed a complaint against Ahn in the same month.
Ahn's remarks such as "the leader's younger sibling was the attending physician of President Lee Jae-myung's older brother" and "the leader's own Military Service Act violation and allegations of sexual bribery were also resolved" were included in the video at the time.
Regarding the video, the leader wrote on his social media, "Not a single thing matches the facts every time," and added, "People post this kind of thing widely and run amok online; I will take legal action against all of them." He also said, "(Lee) Jae-seon (the president's older brother) was not the person's attending physician. Deputy Minister Kim doesn't even know me, let alone having spoken by phone."
Attorney Kim Young-gi of the law firm Chungjeong, the legal representative for the leader's side, said, "We also filed complaints against unidentified individuals who wrote related posts and comments online."
This is not the first time Ahn has been investigated on defamation charges. In 2023, he received a one-year prison sentence suspended for two years for defaming the families of the Sewol ferry victims. In 2024, he was also fined 800,000 won for violating the Public Official Election Act by holding a rally criticizing then-Democratic Party of Korea leader Lee Jae-myung during the 22nd National Assembly election period.