hankyoreh

Kang Yong-seok, a lawyer, announces his bid for Gyeonggi Province governor at a press conference in Suwon on April 4, 2022. (Yonhap)

Prosecutors have asked a court to order prison sentences for members of the far-right YouTube channel HoverLab for spreading falsehoods concerning the South Korean President Lee Jae-myung. An example of such falsehoods includes the claim that Lee had a stint in a juvenile detention center. 

At the final hearing in the case held at a criminal division of the Seoul Central District Court, the prosecution asked the court to sentence lawyer Kang Yong-seok to 18 months in prison and Hoverlab CEO Kim Se-ui to 12 months in prison on charges of dissemination of false information under the Public Official Election Act. 

The two went on trial in September 2022 for allegedly propagating falsehoods in a YouTube broadcast by claiming that Lee had spent time at a juvenile detention center as a youth, an allegation which was also made by US Liberty University professor Morse Tan during his recent visit to South Korea.

Kang and others are also accused of raising suspicions of marital strife between the presidential couple when first lady Kim Hae-kyung was reported to be in an accident at their private residence in November 2021. Kang and Kim Se-ui will receive their first sentences on Aug. 20.

By Oh Yeon-seo, staff reporter; Jang Hyeon-eun, staff reporter

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