[Exclusive] False posts claim “Lee Jae Myung ran a brothel” and “Kim Min-seok committed rape and murder” ... Woman in her 50s gets suspended prison sentence

[Financial News] A woman in her 50s who posted false, defamatory claims on social media that President Lee Jae Myung had run a brothel and that Kim Min-seok, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), and others were perpetrators of violent crimes was sentenced to prison, with the sentence suspended.
According to legal sources on the 3rd, the Seoul Southern District Court’s Criminal Division 11 Single-Judge Panel (Judge Lee A-young) sentenced Na, 55, on September 11 to eight months in prison, suspended for two years, after she was indicted on charges of defamation under the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection. The court also ordered her to undergo probation.
Neither prosecutors (now the Public Prosecution Office) nor Ms. Na appealed, and the ruling became final on the 19th of the same month.
Ms. Na was indicted last July on charges of posting false claims three times on her Facebook page between August 26 and September 1, 2024, alleging that prominent DPK politicians had committed illegal acts including sex crimes, murder and bribery.
Ms. Na posted false claims that President Lee, who was then leader of the DPK, ran a brothel and provided “sex bribes” to a senior police official.
She also alleged that Kim Min-seok, then a member of the DPK’s supreme council, and Incheon Mayor Park Chan-dae, then the party’s floor leader, used drugs at the establishment, raped minors or adults, and then brutally murdered them.
The posts also claimed that Kim had received 60 billion won in bribes and Mayor Park 3.6 billion won.
The court found that Ms. Na had publicly disseminated false information through an information and communications network with the intent to defame, thereby damaging the victims’ reputations. It said, “The content of the false claims posted by the defendant is serious.”
In explaining its sentencing decision, the court said, “We take into account as mitigating factors that she has no prior criminal record, has admitted to the offense, and appears to have been affected in carrying it out by her mental health.”
Earlier, the Seoul Yeongdeungpo Police Station, which launched an investigation following a DPK complaint in September 2024, arrested Ms. Na on July 3 and referred her case to prosecutors on the 10th of the same month.
[email protected] Park Sung-hyun Reporter