Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon Files Police Complaint Against Fake News Spreaders

Five, Including Online Media Reporters, Accused of Defamation

On the 13th, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon attended and spoke at the Investment and Affiliated Institutions Regulation Abolition Report Meeting held at the Seoul City Hall in Jung-gu, Seoul. 2025.2.13 Photo by Jo Yong-jun

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon has filed a police complaint against those who created and spread fake news about his place of origin.

According to the Seoul city government and the police on the 15th, Mayor Oh submitted a complaint on December 27 of last year to the Namdaemun Police Station in Seoul, requesting punishment for five individuals, including Park, on charges of violating the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection (defamation).

According to the complaint, Park and Bang, reporters for an online media outlet, posted an article titled "Oh Se-hoon from Damyang, Jeonnam, deceived people." Mayor Oh claimed that the article contained insulting content such as "traitor" and "like a watermelon, green on the outside but red on the inside," which damaged his reputation.

Mayor Oh is the 13th generation descendant of the Yongin Haeju Oh clan, Chutan Gong branch, and was born in Seongsu-dong, Seongdong-gu. He spent his childhood in Samyang-dong, Gangbuk-gu, Seoul, and has no ties to Damyang. His mother is from Sangju, Gyeongbuk.

The police are reported to have booked and are currently investigating the accused. The city government has also established a 'strong response' policy against those who create and spread false information. This is because the false information is rapidly spreading through SNS and other channels, causing distrust not only in Mayor Oh personally but also in the city administration.

A city official said, "Considering that fake news with the same form and content continues to be disseminated, it appears that someone is systematically spreading false information," adding, "We will immediately collect cases of false information and distortion that have a significant impact on city administration and request additional police investigations."