Beopseoryeon: "President sues citizens, clear human rights violation"... Petition to National Human Rights Commission

National Human Rights Commission of Korea.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Kwan-joo] A civic group has filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission regarding President Moon Jae-in's withdrawal of a lawsuit against a man in his 30s who distributed leaflets defaming him.

The Action Alliance for Establishing the Rule of Law (Beopse-ryeon) held a press conference on the morning of the 7th in front of the Human Rights Commission in Jung-gu, Seoul, stating, "The president's lawsuit against a citizen for insult clearly violates constitutional freedoms of expression, general freedom of action, and personal rights."

Beopse-ryeon said, "In a democratic country, citizens can freely criticize the president in form and content, and the president has the duty to humbly accept any criticism from the people," adding, "The president's lawsuit for insult is a dictatorial idea to gag the entire nation’s mouths and an arrogant abuse of power that refuses to tolerate criticism."

They further urged, "We call on the Human Rights Commission to conduct a thorough investigation and decide that 'the president's lawsuit constitutes a human rights violation.'"

A conservative civic group leader, Mr. A, was sued for insult after distributing leaflets defaming President Moon and others near the fountain at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, in July 2019. The Yeongdeungpo Police Station recently applied the insult charge against Mr. A and sent the case to the prosecution. However, insult is a 'complaint crime' that requires the victim to file the complaint for prosecution, and it was later revealed that President Moon had filed the lawsuit through a proxy, sparking controversy.

Ultimately, President Moon decided to withdraw the lawsuit on the 4th. Blue House spokesperson Park Kyung-mi said, "President Moon has instructed to withdraw the intention to punish regarding the insult charge related to leaflet distribution," but added, "Regarding the clear dissemination of false information and intentional damage to the government's credibility, a careful judgment will be made based on the facts."

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