President Lee Jae-myung has indicated that he does not want writer Rhyu Si-min punished in a defamation case in which Rhyu is accused of spreading false information, according to the presidential office.
The presidential office said on the 21st that Lee expressed his wish the previous day not to see Rhyu punished in connection with the defamation investigation. The office is expected to convey that position to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, which is handling the case.
The public crimes investigation unit of the agency's metropolitan investigation bureau has opened an investigation into whether Rhyu defamed the president by stating false information, an offense under the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection. Kim Han-me, head of the civic group Citizens' Action for Restoring Judicial Justice, had filed a criminal complaint against Rhyu after the writer said Lee's plan for prosecution reform amounted to "deceiving the public until now."
Speaking on a YouTube program, Rhyu said the prosecution reform the president had in mind "was completely different from the prosecution reform we had in mind, from the Democratic Party of Korea's position and from what he had called his campaign pledge," adding that it amounted to "deceiving the public until now."
With the president having stated that he does not want punishment, police are expected to close the case. Under the law, charges of defamation through the statement of false information cannot be prosecuted against the wishes of the victim.