Lee Jaemyung Campaign Vows Legal Action Against Those Spreading False Information and Demonizing Candidate

The election campaign committee of former Democratic Party leader Lee Jaemyung, who is a preliminary candidate in the Democratic Party's presidential primary, announced on the 22nd that "there will be zero tolerance for those who spread false and manipulated information, exploiting even tragic deaths for political schemes," and stated that they will file complaints against those who have circulated false claims such as "seven people around candidate Lee have died."

Former Democratic Party leader Lee Jaemyung, who is accused of spreading false information under the Public Official Election Act, is attending the first trial sentencing hearing held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 15th. Photo by Jo Yongjun

Kang Deukgu and Kim Gipyo, members of the campaign's task force for current issues, along with Park Kyuntaek and Jung Junho from the legal support team, held a press conference at the National Assembly's communication center in the afternoon. They said, "False information such as 'seven people around the candidate have died,' as well as defamatory images questioning 'is he a devil?' have been repeatedly posted in messenger group chats," and made this statement.

The campaign committee explained, "Regarding the unfortunate deaths of people around the candidate, as confirmed by numerous media reports, some of the cases involved individuals who, under extreme pressure during the prosecution's coercive investigations, made extreme choices or died of myocardial infarction due to diabetes complications." "In other cases, individuals took their own lives due to personal distress, or died in accidents while fishing without wearing safety equipment," they said.

They further asserted, "This is a clear political scheme that seeks to demonize this candidate by shifting the responsibility for the prosecution's brutal and coercive investigations onto him."

Addressing investigative authorities, they emphasized, "With just over 40 days left until the presidential election, to ensure the fairness of the election is not compromised and the people's right to make the correct choice is not hindered, the accused must be summoned and investigated immediately."

After the press conference, Park met with reporters and explained, "Although we are currently in the primary stage, once the opposition party's candidate is decided, the election goal will shift from serving the national interest and the happiness of the people to 'bringing down Lee Jaemyung.' I anticipate that attacks against this candidate will only intensify, so I believe it is necessary to respond strictly from the very beginning."

Meanwhile, the campaign committee also revealed that deepfake videos containing allegations such as 'candidate Lee's involvement with organized crime' are being circulated. They stated, "The campaign committee will hold legally accountable a total of 17 individuals: one person for producing and distributing deepfakes in violation of the Public Official Election Act, and 16 others for offenses including spreading false information and defamation of a candidate."