YouTuber Jeon Han-gil (real name Jeon Yu-gwan), who faces defamation charges against President Lee Jae-myung and Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok, stands at a crossroads over arrest.
Kim Jin-man, a warrant-assignated presiding judge at the Seoul Central District Court, will hold a pre-arrest suspect interrogation (substantive warrant review) for Jeon at 10:30 a.m. on the 16th over allegations including violating the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection (defamation).
Jeon aired on his YouTube channel a man's claim that the president handed over a 160 trillion won slush fund and military secrets to China, and was sued and reported to authorities after asserting that the Reform Party leader's double major in economics at Harvard University in the United States was false.
The Human Rights Protection Department of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Director General prosecutor Lee Si-jeon) requested an arrest warrant for Jeon on the 14th. Earlier, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Major Crimes Investigation Unit also investigated Jeon and sought an arrest warrant from the prosecution.
Prosecutors said they sought Jeon's arrest warrant because, based on the pre-arrest suspect interview, the allegations are supported, the case is serious given the repeated production and spread of fake news, and there is a risk of reoffending and flight.
Jeon said on his YouTube channel that day, "Even if Lee Jae-myung may confine and arrest the body of Jeon Han-gil, he will not be able to confine my inner freedom."
A decision on whether to arrest Jeon could come as early as the 16th.