Gwangju City Operates 'Uihyang Gwangju Legal Support Group' for Citizen Protection

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 30th that it is operating the ‘Uihyang Gwangju Legal Support Group’ to protect citizens who have been unfairly harmed by fake news and other issues on social networking services (SNS).

Introduced in March last year as the first among metropolitan local governments nationwide, the Uihyang Gwangju Legal Support Group is a system that provides free legal services such as legal rights counseling and litigation representation to citizens who have suffered rights violations and mental damage due to the spread of false information, fake news, defamation, etc. through SNS.

Judging that defamation through information and communication networks is becoming increasingly serious, since the end of 2019, Gwangju has set the scope and targets of support through prior consultations with related organizations such as the Gwangju Bar Association and internal reviews, and revised related ordinances to establish the basis for the installation and operation of the support group.

The Legal Support Group consists of six lawyer members with extensive experience in various fields centered in the Gwangju area, providing practical help to victims who urgently need problem resolution.

Any citizen who has been unfairly harmed by false information or fake news on various SNS platforms can apply for consultation and legal support from the Uihyang Gwangju Legal Support Group. If selected as a support target by the Citizens’ Rights Committee, they will receive necessary assistance such as counseling and litigation representation from lawyers belonging to the Legal Support Group to protect their rights.

However, general legal support available through existing legal support systems such as free legal counseling offices, administrative litigation public defender systems, and Legal Home Doctor services are excluded from the support targets of the Uihyang Gwangju Legal Support Group.

Jeon Se-jeong, the city’s legal affairs officer, said, “Through the Uihyang Gwangju Legal Support Group system, we will actively support citizens who have been unfairly harmed by cyber defamation to protect their personal rights and privacy,” adding, “We will do our best to maintain the proud reputation of Uihyang Gwangju and create a just and warm Gwangju.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.