Ji Manwon Also Loses Appeal Over "May 18 Citizen Militia Were North Korean Forces" Hoax

30 Million Won in Damages, Including Compensation for Emotional Distress

Conservative commentator Ji Manwon (84), who published material distorting the citizen militia members who took part in the May 18 Democratization Movement as “North Korean special forces,” lost an appeal in a damages lawsuit brought by the victims and May 18 organizations.

Ji Man-won, who was put on trial on defamation charges for claiming that Gwangju citizens who participated in the May 18 Democratization Movement were North Korean special forces, attends his first-trial sentencing hearing at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-dong on the 13th. Yonhap News

The Third Civil Division of the Gwangju High Court, presided over by Judge Jeong Hyeonsik, on November 4 dismissed Ji’s appeal in a damages lawsuit filed against him by the May 18 Memorial Foundation and Cha Bokhwan (66) and Hong Heungjun, who were members of the citizen militia at the time. The court upheld the first-instance ruling that found in favor of the plaintiffs in part.

The court ordered Ji to pay 10 million won each in damages, plus delayed-payment interest, to the May 18 Memorial Foundation, Cha and Hong, for a total of 30 million won.

The court also upheld the first-instance order prohibiting Ji from printing, publishing or distributing his book, “42 Decisive Pieces of Evidence That the North Carried Out the May 18 Operation,” published in January 2023; having a third party publish the book; or posting related content online. It also upheld the order for indirect enforcement, requiring Ji to pay the plaintiffs 2 million won for each violation.

Ji published the book in January 2023, shortly before being incarcerated at the Seoul Detention Center. At the time, the Supreme Court had finalized his two-year prison sentence for spreading claims that North Korean forces were involved in the May 18 events, including defamation under the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection. In the book, Ji repeatedly made the false claim that citizen militia members whose photos had been captured by a newspaper photographer in May 1980 were “North Korean special forces who infiltrated Gwangju, known as Gwangsu, and the same individuals as high-ranking North Korean officials,” while using the photos without permission.

Cha Bokhwan, whom Ji labeled “Gwangsu No. 1” after a photo showed him standing on a vehicle used to fire tear gas, and Hong Heungjun, whom Ji falsely labeled “Gwangsu No. 75,” filed a civil lawsuit in 2023, saying they had suffered severe emotional distress. In August 2025, the first-instance court at the Gwangju District Court recognized Ji’s liability for damages, saying he had “seriously harmed the plaintiffs’ reputations by spreading false information.”

Ji, who has engaged in efforts to distort the May 18 events continuously since the early 2000s, continued making similar claims after being released from prison at the end of his sentence in January 2024, and was recently arrested again for a similar offense. He has also lost a series of rulings in numerous civil damages lawsuits filed against him.

Choi Kiyoung, the plaintiffs’ attorney, said shortly after the appeal ruling, “The South Korean judiciary has consistently confirmed that claims that North Korean forces intervened in the May 18 events and that they were a riot are clearly false.” He called for “strict measures, including the maximum penalty under the law, to prevent the repeated distortion of history,” and said “urgent legislative improvements are needed to establish a system that can confiscate and recover all economic gains obtained through the spread of false information.”

A representative of the May 18 Memorial Foundation also said, “We will hold accountable to the end those shameless forces that distort history, defame the victims of the uprising and deny the constitutional order.”

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