"Claim of 'North Korean Troop Involvement in 5·18'... Report Filed with Police
Includes Internet Media Reporter Who Covered Mr. Kwon's Remarks"
On the 31st, the May 18 Memorial Foundation and Gwangju City filed a complaint with the Gwangju Police Agency against former Director of the National Security Planning Agency Kwon Young-hae and a reporter from an internet media outlet for violating the "May 18 Special Act." [Photo by May 18 Memorial Foundation]
On the 31st, the 5·18 Memorial Foundation and Gwangju City filed a police complaint against former National Security Planning Director Kwon Young-hae and a reporter from an internet media outlet for violating the "Special Act on the 5·18 Democratic Movement, etc." (prohibition of spreading false information). The foundation and the city submitted the complaint to the Gwangju Police Agency that morning.
Kwon and others are accused of continuously asserting and spreading the false claim of "North Korean special forces involvement" during the 5·18 incident, which was revealed as false by investigations conducted by national agencies. Despite the 5·18 Truth Investigation Committee's final conclusion that "North Korean special forces did not intervene during the 5·18," they insist that this fact has not yet been "proven."
The foundation and the city judged that their repeated claims of "North Korean special forces involvement" constitute the "spreading of false information" prohibited under the "Special Act on the 5·18 Democratic Movement, etc."
Kwon previously claimed that "there is a burial site for about 400 North Korean special forces who were dispatched to 5·18 and died, and that the former National Security Planning Agency confirmed this fact."
Won Soon-seok, chairman of the 5·18 Foundation, said, "Despite the spread of false claims by some agitators, the laws and systems of the Republic of Korea have failed to stop this," adding, "It is urgent to establish fundamental measures that can block this at the source."
Meanwhile, the "5·18 North Korean special forces involvement theory" has been cited on banners and posted throughout the streets. The foundation and the city have filed complaints against two political party leaders who posted such content on roads in downtown Gwangju on August 27 and September 10, urging strong and decisive action from judicial authorities.
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