Joo Jin-woo, a lawmaker from the People Power Party, has filed a complaint against President Lee Jae-myung for allegedly leaking confidential documents on social media. In response, the Democratic Party has countered with a complaint of its own, accusing Joo of defamation and false accusations, which they submitted to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.
On October 12, the Democratic Party's legal committee announced in a press release that they had reported Joo for violations of the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection (defamation) and for spreading false information.
Previously, on September 29, President Lee posted an image of a daily comprehensive report on social media, urging public officials from the police, Financial Services Commission, and National Intelligence Service to commend their efforts, citing statistics showing a reduction in voice phishing victims. Joo claimed that the document was confidential and filed a complaint against the president for leaking official secrets.
The Democratic Party's legal committee emphasized that the content of the report regarding the 'status of voice phishing victim reduction' was necessary information that could and should be shared with the public. They argued that disclosing this information does not constitute a breach of official secrets.
They added, 'The courts have consistently ruled that for information to be considered an official secret, it must have substantial protective value that could harm national interests if disclosed.'
Furthermore, the Democratic Party accused Joo of disseminating malicious falsehoods during the complaint process.
The legal committee stated, 'Joo seized upon a truncated phrase at the bottom of the report to spread false information, claiming it was an admission of receiving investigative updates from the Election Commission's special investigation team. This content was merely related to a report on police security conditions at Olympic Park concerning a shortage of ballots and had no connection to the special investigation team's report.'
Yang Boo-nam, the chair of the legal committee, remarked, 'A person who has served as a legal secretary under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration cannot be unaware that his claims are false. We must impose strict legal penalties on those who defame the president for political gain.'
* This article has been translated by AI.
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