Ji Man-won Arrested for Defaming May 18 Victims and Bereaved Families Over "Risk of Destroying Evidence"

Conservative commentator Ji Man-won, who faces charges of spreading false information online that defamed the victims and bereaved families of the May 18 Democratization Movement, has been arrested.

Judge Kim Hong-seop, the senior judge in charge of warrants at the Suwon District Court, issued an arrest warrant yesterday (October 27) after conducting a pre-trial detention hearing for Ji, who is accused of violating the Special Act on the May 18 Democratization Movement and the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection (Defamation).

Judge Kim stated the reason for issuing the warrant, saying, "There are concerns of flight and the destruction of evidence."

Earlier that morning, upon arriving for the hearing, Ji held up a book titled "May 18 OOO" to reporters asking whether he admitted to the charges, denying the allegations by stating, "I do not admit to them."

He added, "The facts of the killings are all in this book. The core issue is clarifying whether the nationalities of the 34 people who dragged four Gwangju citizens into the Jeonnam Provincial Office and killed them belong to the Republic of Korea or the People's Republic."

When reporters asked, "What points will you explain to the court?" Ji replied, "This book, which summarizes the research I have conducted for 24 years, is the target of the investigation.

The warrant states that the true facts [I uncovered] are false facts," maintaining his stance that his claims are not false.

Regarding his past criminal record of punishment, he argued, "That was an unconstitutional ruling that distorted the law," and when asked, "Do you have anything to say to the May 18 victims and bereaved families?" he answered, "No. That is a biased question, so do not ask it."

Ji is accused of posting articles on his website, "Ji Man-won's System Club," about 60 times, designating citizens who participated in the May 18 Democratization Movement as North Korean soldiers and disparaging them.

Police initiated an investigation around May 18 after discovering a large number of such posts on Ji's website during self-monitoring, and applied for a pre-arrest warrant on October 14.

During police questioning, Ji claimed that his actions constituted academic research activities, but the police did not accept this, based on the fact that Ji did not follow objective academic research procedures and methods, such as searching historical materials to examine history.

Police plan to continue investigating the specific details of the crime involving the arrested Ji.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.