Prosecutors sought a one-year prison term for a man in his 50s who was put on trial on charges of posting false writings online about victims and bereaved families of the Sewol ferry disaster and the deadly crowd crush in the nightlife district of Itaewon.
The Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office on the 13th asked the court to sentence a person surnamed Kang (53) to one year in prison at a trial before Judge Kim Jin-seong of the Seoul Western District Court Criminal Division 6 single-judge bench, saying "the nature of the crime is poor and he has not been forgiven by the bereaved families."
From 2021 to last year, Kang is accused of posting false content on his blog, such as "the bereaved families of the Sewol ferry disaster are the same people as the bereaved families of the deadly crowd crush in the nightlife district of Itaewon" and "the deadly crowd crush in the nightlife district of Itaewon was an organizationally planned incident" (defamation of the deceased and defamation under the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection). He is also accused of posting writings that insulted the bereaved families of the Sewol ferry disaster.
In his final statement, Kang said, "I sincerely apologize for hurting the bereaved families with my rash words and actions. If given a chance to return to society, I will live properly so that I will never again stand in court for something like this." The sentencing for Kang will be held at 10 a.m. on Aug. 17.