Politics · South Korea · 3 hrs ago
South Korean police investigate complaint over writer’s remarks about president
South Korean police have opened an investigation into writer Yoo Si-min over comments about President Lee Jae-myung’s plans to reform the prosecution service.
Yoo said the president had misled the public about what the reform would involve.
The dispute concerns whether prosecutors should be separated from the work of investigating crimes and bringing charges.
A civic group accused Yoo of spreading false claims and filed a complaint alleging defamation under South Korea’s information network law.
The group says Lee had already described a similar separation plan in a video interview last year.
Police have questioned the group’s head, but the information available does not say that Yoo has been questioned or charged.
The investigation will examine the group’s complaint; no decision on further action is given.
South Korean police have begun investigating a complaint against writer Yoo Si-min over remarks criticizing President Lee Jae-myung’s plans for prosecution reform.
Police questioned Kim Han-me, head of the civic group that filed the complaint, on October 19.
The group alleges Yoo spread false information that damaged the president’s reputation.
Yoo said the president had “deceived the people” by describing a prosecution reform plan that Yoo said differed from what he had understood.
The presidential office said it regretted what it called a distortion of the president’s position but had not decided whether to take legal action.
- Who
- Writer Yoo Si-min is the subject of the complaint. Police questioned Kim Han-me, head of the group that filed it.
- What
- Police are investigating an allegation of defamation through false information under the Information and Communications Network Act.
- When
- Police questioned the complainant on October 19, 2026. The complaint was filed on September 28.
- Where
- Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.
- Why
- The group alleges Yoo’s remarks about President Lee’s prosecution reform plans were false and harmed the president’s reputation.
The complainant, Judicial Justice Right Now Citizens’ Action
Yoo Si-min
Allegation
The complainant, Judicial Justice Right Now Citizens’ Action
The group says Yoo repeatedly spread false claims about President Lee and damaged his reputation.
Yoo Si-min
Yoo criticized the president’s account of prosecution reform, saying it differed from what he had understood.
Reform position
The complainant, Judicial Justice Right Now Citizens’ Action
The group says Lee had already stated that investigative and prosecutorial functions should be separated.
Yoo Si-min
Yoo said he had never heard that the president’s original reform goal was to separate those functions within the Ministry of Justice.
President Lee said at a press conference that prosecution reform aimed to separate investigation from prosecution.
Yoo discussed Lee’s remarks on the Media Today YouTube channel and criticized the president’s reform position.
Judicial Justice Right Now Citizens’ Action filed a complaint against Yoo with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.
Police questioned the group’s head as the complainant in the case.
- Subject
- Writer Yoo Si-min
- Complainant
- Kim Han-me, head of Judicial Justice Right Now Citizens’ Action
- Police unit
- Public Crime Investigation Unit, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency
- Complaint filed
- September 28, 2026
- Remarks discussed
- September 22, 2026
- Alleged offence
- Defamation by stating false information under the Information and Communications Network Act
3 sources
What people are saying
Yoo Si-min, former head of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation, repeatedly spread false information about President Lee Jae-myung that clearly contradicts objective facts.
The president has deceived the people up to now.
We regret the distortion of the president’s will for prosecution reform by presenting it differently from the facts.