Police Forward Rev. Jeon Kwang-hoon to Prosecution Without Detention for Defaming President Lee

Rev. Jeon Kwang-hoon of Sarang Jeil Church has been referred to the prosecution office on charges of spreading false information regarding President Lee Jae-myung's youth.

The Public Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced today (the 22nd) that it has forwarded Rev. Jeon to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office without detention on charges of defamation by spreading false information under the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection.

Rev. Jeon is accused of defaming President Lee by spreading false information on his YouTube channel and other platforms on two occasions: July 5 of last year and May 10 of this year.

At the time, Rev. Jeon claimed on his YouTube channel, citing a press conference remark by Moss Tan, a Korean-American former professor at Liberty University, "There was a sexual assault under Andong Dam, you know. Not just by one guy, but by Lee Jae-myung and multiple people."

He also made remarks suggesting that President Lee had to take the high school equivalency exam because he went to a juvenile reformatory and failed to graduate from regular middle and high schools.

On May 10 of this year, during a Sunday worship service at Sarang Jeil Church broadcast live on YouTube, he claimed, "Lee Jae-myung didn't even go to middle school or high school, and after taking the equivalency exam at a juvenile reformatory, how did he transfer to Chung-Ang University?"

While investigating a case filed by the Peace Tree Christian Recovery Center regarding these remarks, the police independently became aware of and investigated the July 5 of last year remarks concerning sexual assault as well.

During police questioning in August, Rev. Jeon denied the charges, claiming that he misspoke "juvenile reformatory" instead of "young factory worker," and that the sexual assault remark was a citation of former Professor Moss Tan's statement.

However, the police determined that the statements were false based on facts such as President Lee having no record of being referred to a juvenile division.

Furthermore, considering that the truth could have been sufficiently verified through public materials such as related reports without separate verification, the police concluded that intent and the purpose of defamation were established, and thus forwarded Rev. Jeon to the prosecution office.
 
(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.