Police send U.S. professor to prosecutors over alleged defamation of President Lee

Morse Tan, who was been accused of making false and damaging statements about Lee Jae Myung, has been barred from leaving Korea since before the June 3 elections.

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Morse Tan visits a polling station in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, during the early voting period for the June 3 local elections on May 29.

Morse Tan, a Korean American professor accused of defaming President Lee Jae Myung, was referred to prosecutors without detention.

Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's cyber investigation department said it referred Tan to prosecutors without detention on Wednesday on charges of defamation under the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection and Criminal Act.

Tan is a professor at Liberty University in the United States who served as Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice during U.S. President Donald Trump's first administration.

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He is accused of allegedly making false statements at a news conference and other events in the United States last year, claiming that President Lee had been involved in a murder case as a teenager and had been confined in a juvenile detention center.

Tan entered Korea on May 28 ahead of the June 3 local elections, and an exit ban was imposed on Tan after he failed to comply with police requests to appear for questioning. The exit ban was set to expire on June 30, but has been extended through July 31.

Tan's legal team criticized the investigation, calling it an illegal and unjust abuse of public authority that lacks legal and procedural legitimacy. The legal team added that detaining a former senior U.S. government official in Korea for an extended period is a diplomatic stain.


By JEONG HYE-JEONG [[email protected]]

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.

korea defamation social affairs lee jae myung morse tan

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