YouTuber Jeon Han-gil, who has been under investigation on suspicion of spreading false information about President Lee Jae-myung and Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok, appeared in court on the 16th for a warrant review before arrest.
Kim Jin-man, a warrant-assigning Director General at the Seoul Central District Court, will hold a substantive review of Jeon's arrest warrant at 10:30 a.m. on charges of defamation under the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection and violating the Framework Act on Telecommunications. A decision on whether to detain Jeon is expected as early as this afternoon.
Jeon arrived at the court at about 10:03 a.m. and denied the allegations before reporters. Jeon said, "I have lived without breaking the law and have no prior convictions, but after the Lee Jae-myung administration was launched, I ended up coming to police stations and courts," and added, "I only cited allegations reported by U.S. media; this has nothing to do with a crime."
Investigators believe Jeon, since last year, raised allegations via YouTube and other channels that President Lee created a massive slush fund and spread false rumors about the private life of Kim Hyun-ji, the first executive secretary to the president. Jeon is also suspected of implying that Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok's record of a double major in economics at Harvard University was false.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Violent Crime Investigation Unit summoned Jeon three times starting last month and then sought an arrest warrant. Police determined that Jeon earned about 32.6 million won in revenue from six problematic videos. After a separate, in-person review, prosecutors also concluded that the spread of false information was repeated and that there is a risk of reoffending, and they requested a warrant from the court on the 14th.
After being booked following complaints and accusations by the Democratic Party and others, Jeon additionally raised a claim that 900,000 barrels of oil from Ulsan were shipped to North Korea, for which the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy filed an additional accusation. Investigators are expected to cite this as further grounds to stress the need to secure custody.
About 20 supporters of Jeon gathered in and around the court that day, calling for the warrant to be dismissed. There were brief shouting matches with YouTubers arguing for detention, but police controlled the scene and it did not escalate into physical clashes.