Conservative YouTuber Jeon Han-gil, a former Korean history instructor. [Yonhap]
Conservative YouTuber Jeon Han-gil, a former Korean history instructor. [Yonhap]

Jeon Han-gil (legal name Jeon Yu-gwan), a conservative YouTuber and former Korean history instructor under investigation on charges including spreading false information about President Lee Jae Myung, has lost an administrative lawsuit seeking to overturn an extension of his travel ban.

Seoul Administrative Court Judge Yu Yeong-hwa ruled against Jeon in his suit against the justice minister, rejecting his bid to cancel the travel ban extension.

Jeon was reported to authorities after claiming on YouTube last October that President Lee had hidden slush funds and fathered an illegitimate child.

He is also under investigation on multiple defamation charges, including for remarks suggesting that Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok had received free polling services from political broker Myeong Tae-gyun.

The Ministry of Justice first imposed the travel ban on Jeon in February and has renewed it on a monthly basis. Jeon filed suit arguing the extensions were unlawful, but the court rejected his claims.

The court said the disadvantage Jeon suffered from the travel ban was neither disproportionate nor unduly harsh compared with the public interest the ban was meant to serve. It added that there was no evidence Jeon needed to travel abroad for work or had suffered any concrete harm from being unable to leave the country.


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