A YouTuber accused of urging viewers to falsely answer their residence and age during a poll on preferred candidates for party leader at the Democratic Party of Korea convention in August filed a police complaint against Kim Min-seok in return.

According to police and others on the 4th, Lee Jong-won, operator of the YouTube channel "SisaTapaTV," filed a complaint against Kim with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Major Crime Investigation Unit's Public Crime Investigation Team on charges of violating the Personal Information Protection Act and defamation under the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection.

Kim Min-seok attends the Democratic Party of Korea's Supreme Council meeting for South Chungcheong Province held in the situation room at the South Chungcheong Provincial Office on the 4th. /Courtesy of Yonhap News

Through the complaint, Lee argued that Kim, in the capacity of party leader, disclosed on social media (SNS) Lee's name and party membership status obtained in the course of duty without consent.

On Aug. 30, Kim wrote on X (formerly Twitter), "In relation to the dispute over manipulation of the convention poll, I confirmed that Mr. Lee is a party member and issued a special directive to the Ethics Inspection Team to report, through an emergency inspection, whether an emergency disciplinary measure is needed."

Lee stated as the reason for the complaint that Kim violated the Personal Information Protection Act by posting based on party membership information held by the party and disclosing sensitive information such as Lee's ideology, beliefs, and political views.

Lee also argued that, regarding the alleged manipulation of the convention poll, identifying Lee by real name as the party to the "poll manipulation dispute" at a stage when no investigation had even begun constitutes defamation.

Earlier, the Democratic Party of Korea accused Lee of obstruction of business by fraudulent means. The party asserted that on Aug. 14–15, Lee induced viewers of his YouTube channel's live broadcast to respond to the "national opinion poll phone call by lying about their residence and age," thereby interfering with the polling work.

At the time, the national opinion poll allocated samples by region, gender, and age, and once responses filled the quota for a specific condition, people who fell under that condition could not participate in the survey.

However, through his broadcast, Lee denied the manipulation allegation, saying, "I made it so that you would proactively take the poll."

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