Police arrest man in his 60s for spreading false information about the Sewol ferry sinking, the Seoul Halloween crowd crush and the passenger-plane disaster

[Financial News] A man in his 60s who repeatedly posted false information and defamatory content about the Sewol ferry sinking, the Seoul Halloween crowd crush and the passenger-plane disaster over several years has been arrested.
The National Office of Investigation said on the 23rd that it had arrested a man in his 60s, identified as Mr. A, on suspicion of repeatedly posting false information and other content related to social disasters online.
According to police, Mr. A is suspected of posting false information about the Sewol ferry sinking, the Seoul Halloween crowd crush and the passenger-plane disaster 122 times on a blog he operated from 2022 through last year.
Investigators determined that Mr. A had posted claims suggesting that scenes of rescue operations during the Seoul Halloween crowd crush had been filmed and manipulated in advance. Regarding the Sewol ferry sinking and the passenger-plane disaster, he also repeatedly posted claims suggesting that the disasters had been staged or manipulated and raising questions about the identities of bereaved family members.
Police found that Mr. A had repeatedly posted similar forms of false information and defamatory content about multiple social disasters over several years. They said he was arrested after considering the persistence of the alleged conduct and the seriousness of the harm.
This is the fourth case since the launch of the National Police Agency's Secondary Victimization Crime Investigation Division in which a suspect accused of committing secondary victimization against victims and bereaved families of social disasters has been arrested. Previously, police successively arrested suspects who had spread false information about the Seoul Halloween crowd crush, the Sewol ferry sinking and the passenger-plane disaster, or repeatedly insulted and defamed the victims and bereaved families.
Police plan to respond firmly, viewing the repeated production and dissemination of false information and defamatory content across multiple social disasters—not just a single disaster—as a potential source of further harm when such material is reproduced and amplified online.
The National Police Agency's cyber investigation review officer said, "Repeatedly disseminating unverified information about the victims and bereaved families of social disasters or distorting the truth of those disasters is a serious act of secondary victimization that damages the victims' reputations and causes additional pain to their bereaved families. We will track down and hold fully accountable those who maliciously and repeatedly disseminate false information or insult and defame victims and bereaved families."
[email protected] Kim Ye-ji Reporter