Tan failed to appear for police questioning and was barred from leaving South Korea; his bid to suspend the order was rejected

Morse Tan, a professor at Liberty University in the United States and former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice, holds a press briefing in front of the main gate of Seoul National University in July last year, defending former President Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration of emergency martial law. [Yonhap]
Morse Tan, a professor at Liberty University in the United States and former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice, holds a press briefing in front of the main gate of Seoul National University in July last year, defending former President Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration of emergency martial law. [Yonhap]

A Seoul court has upheld a travel ban on Morse Tan — known in Korea as Dan Hyeon-myeong — a Liberty University professor facing defamation charges over statements he made about President Lee Jae Myung. The court rejected Tan's application to suspend the ban on Thursday. Tan had entered South Korea on May 28, saying he intended to monitor and verify allegations of election fraud ahead of the June 3 local elections.

Judge Wi Ji-hyeon of the Seoul Administrative Court's Administrative Division 1 dismissed Tan's application to stay the travel restriction on Thursday. The court cited, among other factors, the significant need to investigate Tan within South Korea. The travel restriction — applied to foreign nationals as the equivalent of the exit ban used for Korean citizens — is governed by the same rules on extension and lifting as a standard exit ban.

Judge Wi acknowledged that "there is an urgent need to prevent irreparable harm to Professor Tan from the travel restriction," but said "there is concern that suspending the ban could have a serious impact on the public interest."

Tan is accused of making false statements at a press conference held at the National Press Building in Washington, D.C., in June last year, claiming that President Lee had been incarcerated in a juvenile detention facility as a teenager after being involved in a serious crime.

A Korean American, Tan served as U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice during the Donald Trump administration. He has been a vocal defender of former President Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration of emergency martial law on Dec. 3 and has repeatedly raised allegations of election fraud surrounding the last presidential election.

Police had summoned Tan for questioning on May 29, but he did not comply, instead submitting a written explanation for his absence and a request to have the investigating officer recused. Police, concluding that Tan posed a flight risk, asked the Ministry of Justice to impose the travel restriction. Tan responded by filing a lawsuit to cancel the order and simultaneously seeking the stay that the court rejected Thursday.

Tan's legal team argued at the stay hearing that "the measure is substantively and procedurally flawed and causes irreparable harm," but the court was not persuaded.

The court noted that Tan "is a person whose lifestyle and employment are based abroad," adding that it was difficult to conclude that the harm caused by barring him from leaving the country was not irreparable.

Nevertheless, the court said a travel ban "in effect loses its meaning if the subject leaves the country," and that "the public interest the measure seeks to achieve cannot be realized if the applicant departs."

The court further noted that "the investigation into the applicant appears likely to continue," and concluded that "given the necessity of the investigation under the current circumstances and the need to respect the judgment of the investigative authorities, it is appropriate to prioritize the public interest served by maintaining the travel ban, even taking into account the harm to the applicant."


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