The People Power Party criticized Jeon Yong-gi, co-chairman of the Democratic Party's National Communication Committee, for his statement that "those who spread fake news related to incitement of rebellion via KakaoTalk will be reported," calling it an "anti-constitutional declaration to imprison the thoughts of the people."
On the 12th, Seo Ji-young, the party's floor spokesperson, issued a statement saying, "This is an attempt to control the thoughts and writings of the people who oppose or question the Democratic Party's unilateral 'say anything' claims, going beyond 'censorship' to 'imprison' them within the Democratic Party's framework." Seo added, "Even threatening to report ordinary people who share such content is effectively a declaration of war against the public, aiming to impose an anti-democratic reign of terror that restricts freedom of expression and thought."
The party's Media Special Committee launched a campaign titled "Report Me Too for Incitement of Rebellion" in response to the Democratic Party's accusations of incitement and propaganda of rebellion. This campaign involves delivering the claims and lists of ordinary people who agree with opposition to President Yoon Suk-yeol's impeachment and arrest to the Democratic Party. On Facebook, lawmaker Na Kyung-won wrote, "Today, I decided to become the 'No. 1 accused of incitement of rebellion.' Let's boldly shout, 'The impeachment is invalid. Report me first for incitement of rebellion.'"
Regarding this, the Democratic Party rebutted, saying, "We are not trying to censor KakaoTalk, but rather to respond firmly to fake news and public opinion manipulation."
At a press briefing that day, Chief Spokesperson Cho Seung-rae said, "Looking at the mechanism by which fake news is created and spread, it is distributed through social networking services (SNS)." He explained, "(The intent of Representative Jeon Yong-gi's remarks) was to respond from the perspective that there is a need to strictly deal with acts of systematically spreading fake news." He continued, "Fake news causes division among the people by spreading false information that is factually incorrect. Didn't President Yoon Suk-yeol also say repeatedly that fake news must be dealt with firmly?" He added, "I hope the People Power Party does not make irrelevant disputes."
Representative Jeon Yong-gi also stated on Facebook, "Maliciously inciting rebellion or spreading fake news in group KakaoTalk chats that serve as bulletin boards cannot be considered acceptable," adding, "I intend to receive reports on such cases and review whether there are any issues."
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