YouTuber Jeon Han-gil (real name Jeon Yu-gwan), accused of defaming President Lee Jae-myung and Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok, appears for a pre-arrest warrant examination (warrant review) at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu on the 16th, responding to reporters. 2026.4.16 ondol@yna.co.kr

YouTuber Jeon Han-gil (56, real name Jeon Yu-gwan), accused of defaming President Lee Jae-myung and Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok, appeared at a pre-arrest warrant examination by the court on the 16th.

Presiding Judge Kim Jin-man of the Seoul Central District Court presided over the warrant examination for Jeon, who faces charges of defamation under the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection and violation of the Basic Act on Telecommunications, starting at 10:30 AM. A decision on his detention is expected as early as this afternoon.

Arriving at the court around 10:03 AM, Jeon claimed, "I have lived without regard for the law and have no prior convictions, yet I find myself at police stations and courts after the Lee Jae-myung administration came into power." He further asserted, "(The Democratic Party and Lee's side) are politically retaliating and have filed complaints and accusations to conceal the truth."

Regarding the allegations he has raised, he emphasized, "I did not report this first; I only cited suspicions reported by American media, and it has nothing to do with crime." He also repeatedly claimed, "Lee's bachelor's degree in economics is false."

When asked if he reported these suspicions without verification due to YouTube revenue, he denied it, stating, "My annual income is around 300 million won, and I would receive that much income even without mentioning Lee Jun-seok and Lee Jae-myung, so this is fake news. There was a verification process as well."

Representative Jeon Han-gil. [Yonhap News]

Jeon is accused of broadcasting claims on YouTube since last year that President Lee had created a slush fund of 160 trillion won, and of fabricating suspicions about his private life involving Kim Hyun-ji, the first vice-secretary of the Presidential Office. He is also accused of stating that Lee's claim of a double major in economics from Harvard University is false.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Major Crimes Investigation Unit summoned and investigated Jeon three times since last month before applying for an arrest warrant, which the prosecution requested on the 14th. Police estimate that Jeon earned a total of 32.6 million won from six videos containing this "fake news" (disinformation).

Jeon was indicted by the police following a complaint filed by the Democratic Party and others. Last month, he raised the "900,000 barrels of Ulsan oil inflow to North Korea theory," which led to an additional complaint from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Inside the courthouse on this day, about 20 supporters shouted "Fighting, Jeon Han-gil" and argued for the rejection of the warrant, causing a brief commotion. There were also altercations with YouTubers who criticized Jeon, but police intervened, preventing any physical clashes.