PPP rep surrounded in fake news controversy surrounding dead teacher

A woman, who confessed to having made false accusations against People Power Party (PPP) Rep. Han Ki-ho regarding the death of the teacher at Seo 2 Elementary School, reportedly met with the politician to ask for forgiveness.

People Power Party Rep. Han Ki-ho at a conference on July 10 in Seoul. Han had been falsely accused of flexing his political powers to prevent the news media from covering the suicide of school teacher. Han plans to file a lawsuit of the person who posted such lies. [YONHAP]

The recent suicide of an elementary school teacher is now stirring controversy over fake news.

A woman, who confessed to having made false accusations against People Power Party (PPP) Rep. Han Ki-ho regarding the death of the teacher at Seo 2 Elementary School, reportedly met with the politician to ask for forgiveness.

According to officials in the political community, the woman, who claimed that she was the mother of two young children at the school, came to the National Assembly on Friday in tears and apologized.

Rep. Han, however, reportedly refused to accept her apology, telling her that because of the false claims she posted online, his political career has been seriously damaged.

“It is not something that you can ask forgiveness for,” Han said. “You may have written it just for fun, but there are 30,000 people that have read it.

“And because those 30,000 people reposted it, it has spread nationwide.”

Han on Thursday morning denied rumors that had been circulating online that he is the grandfather of the student behind the teacher who committed suicide.

The online post, written by the woman on a mothers’ forum with 410,000 members, did not specifically mention Han.

However, it stated that a three-term PPP lawmaker had used his political power to prevent the death of the teacher from being published in the media.

The teacher is suspected of committing suicide due to constant harassment by a student’s parents whose family includes a powerful politician.

The description of the family was sufficient enough to implicate Han.

Kim Eo-jun, who owns a YouTube channel with over 1 million subscribers, has been accused of contributing to the spreading of the false accusation against PPP Rep. Han Ki-ho. On Friday, he said he was correcting his claims made on Thursday on a three-term PPP lawmaker relate to the suicide of a school teacher. [YONHAP]

The accusation was further fueled after it was aired on a partisan YouTube channel hosted by Kim Eo-jun.

On its Thursday show, Kim said that the suicide case involves a sitting three-term PPP lawmaker.

Kim, who used to run one of the most popular radio shows on TBS among Democratic Party followers until the end of last year, has over 1 million subscribers on his channel.

The PPP Rep. Han on Thursday claimed that his only granddaughter is in middle school.

“There are no grandchildren of mine that go to that school,” Han said. “I have only one granddaughter, and she is in her second year in middle school. The two other grandsons are in second grade in elementary school and they go to a different school. The youngest is only two years old and lives in Gyeonggi.”

The woman, who made the post that implicated Han, later edited the online post, stating that she only compiled rumors circulating on the internet.

“I didn’t know it would spread so much,” she wrote. “I hope that there is no misunderstanding, as such speculations are not true.”

Referring to Han, the writer said he is a hardworking lawmaker with a strong virtue.

Han told the JoongAng Ilbo that he plans to continue pressing charges against the woman.

“If I forgive her, it will set a precedent that this level of lies and fake news can be accepted,” Han said. “If I remain silent, it would be the same as me encouraging an immoral society.”

The YouTuber Kim, on Friday, did not apologize to Han; however, he changed his previous statement saying that a three-term PPP lawmaker was involved.

Although he admitted the comment that he made on Thursday’s show was based on inaccurate information, he notified his viewers that he will later give details through additional reporting based on reliable information.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]