Professor Moss Tan. [Newsis]
Professor Moss Tan. [Newsis]

A Seoul court on Friday ruled against Moss Tan (Korean name: Dan Hyeon-myeong), a former professor at Liberty University in the United States who faces charges of defaming President Lee Jae-myung, dismissing his lawsuit seeking to lift a travel ban imposed on him.

Judge Kim Tae-hwan of the Seoul Administrative Court's Administrative Division 3 ruled against Tan in his suit against the minister of justice to cancel the exit ban order.

The court rejected Tan's request to cancel the third exit ban imposed on him and denied his application to suspend its enforcement. Tan is barred from leaving the country through Aug. 15.

The court said it could not conclude that the disadvantage Tan would suffer outweighed the public interest served by the ban — including securing the state's right to punish and uncovering the truth — given the progress of the legal proceedings and the possibility that Tan might flee abroad.

The court added that the requirements for an exit ban are met simply by the fact that a criminal trial is ongoing against a foreign national and that there is a risk the person may not return to South Korea after leaving. It said conclusive proof that the charges will result in a conviction, or that the person will actually flee overseas, is not required.

The court also noted that Tan had refused to accept a summons and declined to answer any questions — including basic personal details — when questioned as a suspect, saying he was "merely displaying an evasive attitude toward the relevant legal proceedings."

The court separately dismissed Tan's challenge to the second exit ban, which had taken effect July 1, ruling that it had already lapsed and there was no longer any legal interest in seeking its cancellation. The Ministry of Justice had lifted the second ban after Tan was indicted, then issued a new, third exit ban order.

Tan's legal team said immediately after the ruling that they would "appeal the first-instance verdict as quickly as possible" and planned to seek state compensation for what they called an unlawful exit ban.

Tan is accused of making false statements at a press conference held in Washington last June by an "international election monitoring group," claiming that President Lee had been incarcerated as a juvenile after being implicated in a serious crime during his youth. The first hearing in Tan's defamation case is scheduled for Sept. 11 at the Seoul Central District Court.


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