Man in His 50s Arrested for Flooding Internet With False Posts Claiming "Sewol Ferry Was a National Scam"

Spreading False Claims of "Corpse-Play Theater" About National Disasters
Thousands of Defamatory and Insulting Posts Over Five Years Since 2022

A man in his 50s has been arrested after posting thousands of false articles over five years claiming that national disasters, including the Sewol ferry tragedy, were "staged frauds." The police determined that by describing the Itaewon crowd crush as "a corpse-play movie with human dummies laid out," he amplified hatred and distrust toward the victims' families.

The National Office of Investigation at the Korean National Police Agency announced on May 31 that it had arrested Mr. A on charges including defamation of the deceased, insult, and violation of the Framework Act on Telecommunications. Mr. A is alleged to have posted thousands of defamatory and insulting false articles related to disasters such as the Sewol ferry, Itaewon, and passenger plane accidents on major online communities from 2022 up until recently.

Photos of two American victims are posted at the memorial space set up near the site of the Itaewon crowd crush accident in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, in October 2022. Photo by Hyunmin Kim

According to the police, Mr. A continuously posted false statements such as "The Sewol ferry disaster was a pre-arranged national scam," "The Sewol ferry was staged," "The passenger plane accident was a corpse-selling fraud," and "The Itaewon disaster was a poorly made movie using dummies for corpse play." The police concluded that through these posts, Mr. A insulted and defamed the victims' families.

An investigation revealed that Mr. A had posted approximately 3,000 false articles related to disasters, including the Sewol ferry tragedy. In particular, he repeatedly attached images from the time of the disasters with provocative captions suggesting they were "fabricated."

Victims' families testified to the police during the investigation that "posts denying the very existence of the disaster caused severe psychological trauma and humiliation," describing the harm they suffered from the long-term and repeated secondary victimization.

The police described this case as a strict response through compulsory investigation to secondary crimes that distorts and manipulates social disasters, disseminates large amounts of false information, and leads to social conflict and public confusion. Since the launch of the Secondary Victimization Crime Investigation Division at the National Police Agency in July last year, this is the third time a suspect related to a social disaster has been arrested.

The police stated that they will expand cooperation systems with online platforms to thoroughly track down perpetrators of secondary victimization related to social disasters and will maintain a zero-tolerance policy, with arrest investigations as the principle for malicious posters.

Park Woohyun, Director of Cybercrime Investigation Review at the Korean National Police Agency, said, "Acts that repeatedly spread false information by making a mockery of social disasters are serious crimes that go beyond the bounds of freedom of expression," adding, "We will relentlessly pursue and hold accountable those who maliciously distort the nation's pain and incite hatred and confusion online."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.