President Lee: "Not a single apology or correction from media that indiscriminately reported alleged mob ties"

[The Financial News] President Lee Jae-myung on the 14th criticized media outlets that, as he put it, indiscriminately amplified reports of his alleged ties to organized crime, saying, "Not only have they failed to apologize, there has not been a single correction afterward." His remarks came after the Supreme Court the previous day finalized a sentence of one year in prison, suspended for two years, for lawyer Jang Young-ha on charges of publicly spreading false information related to the case.
On X (formerly Twitter) that day, President Lee wrote, "Even as this ruling is handed down, the media that indiscriminately expanded and reported baseless allegations of Lee Jae-myung’s ties to organized crime without any verification have not only failed to apologize, they have not issued a single correction afterward." He went on, "Let alone later corrections, there has not even been factual reporting," adding, "There are still many people in the world who believe I am connected to organized crime."
He continued, "Media that report without fact-checking, media that deliberately manipulate and distort, and irresponsible media that simply relay baseless false claims are more frightening than a weapon," and added, "I long for a clean society without fake news, where truth and justice flow like a river."
Earlier, the Supreme Court’s Third Division upheld a lower court ruling that sentenced Jang Young-ha, People Power Party Seongnam Sujeong District Party Committee Chair, to one year in prison with a two-year suspended sentence for violating the Public Official Election Act by publicly spreading false information when he raised allegations of then-candidate Lee’s ties to organized crime during the 20th presidential election campaign. Jang was accused of claiming at a press conference and other occasions in October 2021 that President Lee, while serving as Seongnam mayor, received about 2 billion won from the Gukje Mafia gang in return for business favors.
President Lee also shared a post by Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Lee Geon-tae along with his own message. Lee Geon-tae argued that the prosecution service initially decided not to indict in this case, but the trial went ahead thanks to a request for adjudication filed by the Democratic Party of Korea, and he asserted that the organized-crime allegations raised at the time affected the presidential election. However, this is his political assessment.
west@fnnews.com Seong Seok-woo Reporter