Ji Man-won [Newsis]
Ji Man-won [Newsis]

Police have applied for an arrest warrant for conservative commentator Ji Man-won, who is accused of repeatedly spreading online content that defames the bereaved families and victims of the May 18 Democratic Uprising.

According to Yonhap, the Gyeonggi Province Southern Police Agency's cyber investigation unit announced on Tuesday that it had applied for a pre-trial arrest warrant against Ji on Oct. 14 on charges of violating the May 18 Democratization Movement Act and the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, specifically for defamation.

Ji is accused of using his website, "Ji Man-won's System Club," to refer to citizens who participated in the May 18 Democratic Uprising as members of a "North Korean corpse disposal unit" and to describe the commemorations as a "corpse-trading event," making such claims about alleged North Korean military involvement on more than 60 occasions.

Police launched the investigation after their own monitoring detected a large volume of such posts on Ji's website around May 18.

The May 18 Democratization Movement Act provides for criminal punishment of anyone who spreads false information about the May 18 Democratic Uprising through newspapers, broadcasts, publications or online networks. However, acts carried out for artistic, academic, research or journalistic purposes are exempt.

Ji told police during the investigation that his activities constituted academic research, but police determined they could not be considered legitimate research activity, citing his failure to follow the objective procedures and methods of academic inquiry — such as reviewing historical sources to establish facts.

The Suwon District Prosecutors' Office plans to interview Ji once before making a final decision on whether to formally request the arrest warrant.


husn7@heraldcorp.com