"Mocking Kim Ku and Yu Gwan-sun to Save a TikTok Account"... There Is No Law to Stop the Insulting of Independence Activists

[Financial News] As National Liberation Day of Korea approaches, posts mocking Korean independence activists continue to spread across TikTok and other social networking services, drawing criticism.
On the 4th, Kyoungduk Seo, a professor at Sungshin Women's University, said, "I checked TikTok and various social networking services ahead of the upcoming National Liberation Day of Korea, and there were still many posts mocking Korean independence activists."
Seo pointed out, "There are absurd posts that judge the appearance of independence activists, rank their contributions, or compare them with games and idols that users like," adding, "Above all, it appears to be a strategy to 'boost' their accounts by exploiting famous independence activists such as An Jung-geun, Yu Gwan-sun and Kim Ku."
Earlier, around March 1st Independence Movement Day, AI-generated videos titled 'Yu Gwan-sun Fart Rocket' and 'An Jung-geun Fart Train' were uploaded to TikTok, sparking controversy. At the time, the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs (MPVA) had the videos and accounts removed through TikTok Korea on March 27, but similar mocking content has continued to appear repeatedly.
According to the legal community, it is not easy to impose meaningful punishment for such malicious content. Under current law, defamation of a dead person does not apply to the deceased, so simple disparagement or mockery cannot be criminally punished.
Even when prosecutors try to apply defamation of a dead person, the offense is established only when false facts are stated, making the requirements much stricter than those for ordinary defamation.
Seo stressed, "The most important thing is for users to actively report malicious content so that it cannot be exposed," adding, "Platforms must strengthen monitoring so that such posts can no longer be uploaded."
[email protected] Kim Su-yeon Reporter