Lee Cheol-woo Camp Files Charges Against Two for Spreading Fake News

The camp of Lee Cheol-woo, a preliminary candidate for Gyeongsangbuk-do Governor, filed a complaint on the 1st with the Gyeongsangbuk-do Provincial Police Agency against two unidentified individuals for systematically spreading false information, citing charges of false information disclosure and defamation.

According to Lee Cheol-woo's legal support team, the accused are suspected of exploiting the nature of closed online communities, such as Naver Band and KakaoTalk group chats, to post unverified content as fact. The complaint alleges that the individuals systematically produced and disseminated baseless fake news with the aim of preventing the election of a specific candidate, thereby confusing voters' judgment and distorting the public will. The charges filed against the accused are violations of the Public Official Election Act (false information disclosure) and the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, etc. (defamation).

The Lee camp views this complaint as the first step in eradicating fake news and plans to pursue further complaints against individuals engaging in similar activities on other platforms, including Facebook and KakaoTalk, based on collected evidence. Furthermore, they stated they will strengthen online monitoring to track down the origins of fake news production and dissemination until the end, and will respond with a zero-tolerance policy against all illegal activities that undermine a fair election culture, in cooperation with the election commission.