Chung Dong-young Takes Strong Action Over Fake News Claiming He Has 27-Year-Old Daughter in North Korea: "I Laughed It Off at First"

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young has warned of strong legal action regarding the spread of false claims alleging that he has a daughter in North Korea.

Minister Chung shared related YouTube materials on his social media on Wednesday (October 14), stating, "Fake news claiming that Chung Dong-young has a 27-year-old daughter in North Korea is spreading."

Regarding the rumor, Minister Chung said, "I have usually envied friends who have daughters, but this is rather baffling," adding, "I just laughed it off at first, but I heard that views of the video have exceeded 600,000 and it continues to spread online."

He added, "Amid ongoing red-baiting and ideological offensives against me, I realize once again the seriousness of fake news."

The claim originated from videos by North Korean defector YouTubers and others citing a media outlet's column, and Minister Chung said he will initiate legal action along with an official response at the Ministry of Unification level.

He also urged the immediate deletion of posts and videos containing the false information.

Meanwhile, amid allegations that issues have arisen in the South Korea-U.S. alliance, such as classified intelligence sharing, following Minister Chung's recent mention of an undisclosed North Korean uranium enrichment facility, the opposition has been calling for his dismissal.

In response, Minister Chung previously stated, "There is no problem with the South Korea-U.S. alliance," explaining that the restrictions on intelligence sharing were due to an error on the U.S. side.

(Reported by Lee Hyeon-yeong | Video by Seo Byeong-uk | Design by Lee Jeong-ju | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.