The publisher of Hanmi Ilbo, accused of spreading false information about Presidential Secretary's Office first annex chief Kim Hyeon-ji through an online outlet, has been handed over to prosecutors.
On the 13th, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Financial Crimes Investigation Unit said it referred without detention on May 26 the publisher and CEO of Hanmi Ilbo, a person surnamed Heo, on suspicion of defamation under the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection.
Heo is suspected of writing and posting articles containing false information about Kim, including allegations of an affair, an out-of-wedlock child, misuse of state funds, and links to espionage, thereby defaming Kim.
Earlier, the Democratic Party of Korea's Public Communication Committee filed a complaint with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in Oct. last year against Heo and Hanmi Ilbo for violating the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection.
During the investigation, police sought an arrest warrant for Heo, but the Seoul Central District Court dismissed the warrant on Apr. 10, saying it was difficult to find a risk of evidence destruction or flight.
Heo is known to have founded Hanmi Ilbo after leaving the conservative-leaning online outlet Sky Daily, where he had worked.
On Jan. 16 last year, while at Sky Daily, he carried a report to the effect that "during the Dec. 3 emergency martial law, martial law troops arrested 99 Chinese spies at the National Election Commission's Election Institute and transferred them to a U.S. military base in Japan." In connection with this, an arrest warrant was sought in May last year on suspicion of obstruction of official duties by deceit, but the court dismissed it.