On May 18, the special investigation team announced in a press release that it had applied for an arrest warrant for Lee on sedition charges.
The team alleges that Lee used his authority over news broadcasts and scrolling news on the public channel to repeatedly and intensively report news justifying the legitimacy of the martial law and proclamations from December 3 to December 13, while selectively blocking and deleting news that criticized or opposed these actions.
The special investigation team explained the rationale behind the warrant request. After reviewing records from a previous investigation that did not lead to charges against Lee, they found that he had lost the media's essential role of checking and monitoring state power. This was evident not only during the martial law period but also after its repeal, as he supported and protected the forces involved in the sedition. Consequently, they decided to reopen the investigation under the comprehensive special prosecution law.
Currently, Lee is under investigation for allegedly instructing his staff to remove subtitles that stated "martial law is illegal" during the declaration and for directing the news team to focus on the president and proclamations while excluding political news.
Earlier, on May 15, during a sentencing hearing, the sedition special investigation team sought a five-year prison sentence for Lee.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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