President Lee: "Substantial Sanctions Needed for Regional Discrimination and Mocking Event Victims"

President Lee Jae-myung stated, "Within limits that do not infringe upon freedom of expression, there must be substantial sanctions against disparaging specific regions or mocking victims of particular incidents."

President Lee made the remarks after receiving a report on measures to penalize hate speech prepared by the Ministry of Justice and the Korea Communications Commission during a Cabinet meeting he presided over at the presidential office, according to Senior Presidential Spokesperson Kang Yu-jung in a briefing.

President Lee noted, "We must not respond with past methods that treated these as mere conflicts and relationships between individuals," while urging officials to thoroughly review overseas legislative examples, penal precedents, and case law.

Spokesperson Kang stated that President Lee deeply agreed with Cabinet members' points that "politicians in the public sphere are actually exacerbating the spread of hate speech," and emphasized that "we must alleviate the social intensification of a culture of hostility."

President Lee then instructed, "Related ministries should consult with each other to systematically organize and report on preliminary preventive measures and criminal actions step by step."

President Lee's remarks came as People Power Party lawmaker Lee Jin-sook faced criticism both within the ruling bloc and her own party, the People Power Party, for hosting a forum at the National Assembly alongside a right-wing group to re-examine the May 18 Democratization Movement.

Regarding this, a presidential official stated, "President Lee did not give specific examples of (hate) speech," adding, "It is a matter where he instructed related ministries to closely examine overseas legislative examples and penal precedents, and to review the issue meticulously before reporting back."

(Photo provided by the Presidential Photo Press Corps, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.