Jeon Han-gil referred to prosecution over false advertising of a health supplement as “glaucoma treatment”

[Financial News] Jeon Han-gil, a former Korean history instructor turned YouTuber (whose real name is Jeon Yu-kwan), has been referred to the Prosecution Office on suspicion of advertising a health functional food as if it were a pharmaceutical drug.
According to police and other sources on the 6th, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Metropolitan Criminal Investigation Unit referred Jeon, without detention, to the Seoul Central District Prosecution Office on the 30th of last month on suspicion of violating the Act on Labeling and Advertising of Foods.
Jeon is suspected of advertising a particular health functional food on his YouTube broadcasts in April and May as if it were a drug effective in treating glaucoma.
During a broadcast on May 7, Jeon introduced the product, saying, “It got a patent, and I hear it treats glaucoma,” and said that he, too, was taking it three times a day. On May 14 of the same month, he said, “This is medicine for me,” and stated to the effect that he believed it was effective in treating glaucoma and was taking it.
The current Act on Labeling and Advertising of Foods prohibits advertisements that could lead people to believe that a food is effective in preventing or treating a disease, or that could cause it to be mistaken or confused for a pharmaceutical drug.
The health functional food company that commissioned the ad from Jeon also received administrative sanctions. In June, Bucheon City in Gyeonggi Province ordered the company to suspend business for five days for violating regulations prohibiting unfair labeling and advertising.
When Jeon appeared for police questioning in July, he explained, “I was inexperienced and didn’t know any better,” and “I wasn’t trying to gain anything or broadcast anything false.” He said he had also deleted the ad content from the video after the issue was raised.
Police had earlier referred Jeon to the Prosecution Office on suspicion of violating the Special Act on the May 18 Democratization Movement and defaming President Lee Jae Myung, Reform Party lawmaker Lee Jun-seok, and others. Jeon is suspected of spreading the “theory of North Korean troop involvement in the May 18 Democratization Movement” and false allegations about President Lee and lawmaker Lee through YouTube broadcasts and other channels.
[email protected] Choi Seung-han Reporter