Youtuber Jeon Han-gil, a former Korean history instructor, has been cleared of charges. He was accused of distorting the remarks of then-Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung in a video titled 'Lee Jae-myung, establishing anti-discrimination law for 30% LGBTQ+ employment in public institutions' during the 21st presidential election. Screenshot from the YouTube channel 'Love that is Han-gil Jeon'. 

Youtuber Jeon Han-gil, a former Korean history instructor who was accused of distorting and spreading the remarks of then-Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung during the last presidential election, has been cleared of charges.

On the 27th, the police decided not to forward the case to the prosecution for Jeon Han-gil, a former Korean history instructor, who was accused of 'disseminating false information under the Public Official Election Act' for uploading a video titled 'Lee Jae-myung, establishing anti-discrimination law for 30% LGBTQ+ employment in public institutions' on YouTube.

On May 7th, a video titled 'Lee Jae-myung, establishing anti-discrimination law for 30% LGBTQ+ employment in public institutions' was uploaded to Jeon's YouTube channel, 'Jeon Han-gil News'.

The video featured remarks made by Lee Jae-myung, then mayor of Seongnam, on March 8, 2017, at the 33rd Korean Women's Conference, where he stated, "We will ensure that LGBTQ+ individuals account for more than 30% in public and financial institutions." The video also included hashtags such as #LGBTQ and #Queer. 

Even at the time, these remarks caused controversy. A week later, on March 15, 2017, Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung clarified, "The context of the remark about 30% LGBTQ+ employment was to highlight women who face wage discrimination compared to men." 

After the video with this title was released on May 7th of this year, the Democratic Party accused Jeon of disseminating false information with the intent to sabotage an election under the Public Official Election Act and filed a complaint with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on May 27th of the same month.

When accusing Jeon, a Democratic Party official explained that the remark was "to ensure that women, who are considered social minorities (not sexual minorities), account for more than 30%" and added, "Furthermore, it was in the context of guaranteeing 30% for men in so-called female-dominated institutions."

The case was assigned to the Yeongdeungpo Police Station and investigated for six months. As a result, the police concluded that there was no evidence to suggest that Jeon had ordered or intervened in the uploading of the video, thus finding him not guilty.

However, the employee who actually posted the video on the YouTube channel has been sent to the prosecution without detention.

In his police investigation, Jeon explained that the video was uploaded by an employee, not himself, and that the content of the video was simply a repost of remarks made by then-President Lee Jae-myung during his time as Seongnam mayor, thus it was not false information.

Editorial Department, Hankyoreh