Moss Tan (Korean name Dan Hyeon-myeong), a former professor at Liberty University in the United States, asked a court to suspend the Ministry of Justice's exit ban imposed on him, but the request was rejected. The former professor is under investigation on suspicion of defaming President Lee Jae-myung.
On the 6th, Kim Tae-hwan, the sole judge for Administrative Division 3 at the Seoul Administrative Court, dismissed Tan's request for a stay of execution of the exit ban imposed by the Minister of the Ministry of Justice.
The court said, "There is concern that the disposition (exit ban) may cause irreparable harm to the applicant (the former professor)," and "it appears there is an urgent need to suspend the effect of the disposition to prevent this."
However, it rejected the request, saying, "In light of the circumstances of the disposition and the progress of the investigation, it is reasonable to view that suspending the effect of the disposition could affect the public interest."
The former professor is suspected of defaming the president by publishing false information related to Lee. The former professor entered Korea ahead of the June 3 local elections, saying he would monitor so-called "election fraud." Police sought to question him, but when he did not appear, they asked the Ministry of Justice to impose an exit ban. The Ministry of Justice restricted his departure until the 30th of the previous month.
The former professor appeared at the Cybercrime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on the 25th of the previous month and was questioned. On the 1st, police forwarded the former professor to prosecutors without detention. After that, the Ministry of Justice issued a disposition suspending the former professor's departure until the end of this month.
In response, the former professor filed for a stay of execution of the exit ban. At a hearing held at the Seoul Administrative Court on the 3rd, he argued about the exit ban, saying, "If there is a specific matter, it can be investigated through Interpol as well, but extending it during the visit to Korea (the exit ban) would raise diplomatic issues in terms of the public interest."