The police have opened an investigation into Korean American professor Morse Tan on suspicion of making false claims about President Lee Jae Myung.
They have also asked the Justice Ministry to issue an entry notification order to report him if he reenters South Korea.
According to local media reports, an official from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said Monday that Tan had been booked in late July on charges of defamation.
Tan, a dean of Liberty University’s School of Law and former US ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice under the first Donald Trump administration between 2017 and 2021, is accused of promoting conspiracy theories about election fraud in Korea. They include claims that the June 3 election won by Lee was rigged.
The investigation was opened after civic group Freedom Korea National Defence Corps filed a complaint with the South Korean police.
The details of the complaint include remarks Tan made at an event in Washington in June, in which Tan claimed that Lee was involved in gang rape and the murder of a girl during his youth. He further said that the president was sent to a juvenile detention center and was therefore unable to finish middle and high school.
South Korean law allows the domestic prosecution of crimes committed abroad against Korean nationals, but in practice this requires the suspect to be in Korea.
Tan is also suspected of repeating similar remarks during his visit to Korea in July, when he was invited to be a speaker at Eunpyeong Jeil Church in Eunpyeong-gu, northern Seoul.
lee.jungjoo@heraldcorp.com
