Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Lee vows zero tolerance on hate speech, calls disinformation criminal
President Lee Jae Myung presides over a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
President Lee Jae Myung on Tuesday vowed to enforce a zero-tolerance policy on hate speech and disinformation, describing them as “crimes that clearly go beyond the limits of free expression.”
The president also directed his Cabinet to introduce swift measures to strengthen penalties and discipline, including the automatic dismissal of civil servants who use discriminatory language.
Chairing a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office in Yongsan, Lee said that hate speech and false information on social media are “eroding social trust and undermining democracy.”
“We can no longer overlook hate or disinformation disguised as opinion,” he said. “Acts that distort facts or violate human dignity are crimes that must be punished as such.”
Lee instructed ministers to devise legislative and enforcement steps without delay, and asked police authorities to play a leading role in stopping the spread of false content. He said that the government must “draw a clear boundary between legitimate speech and incitement that endangers the public.”
Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho said the government would support a parliamentary debate on an anti-hate speech law modeled after similar legislation in Europe and Japan. He added that the law would include fines for online platforms that fail to remove hateful or manipulated content.
Lee endorsed the plan, saying the review should also abolish the criminal defamation clause that punishes factual statements. He added that such cases “should be settled under civil law rather than through criminal prosecution.”
Personnel Management Minister Choi Dong-suk proposed new disciplinary rules that would result in the immediate dismissal of civil servants found to have committed hate speech.
“If a public official engages in hate speech, they should automatically be disqualified from office,” he said. Lee approved the proposal and instructed that it be “implemented as quickly as possible,”
The rule will apply to all senior officials, including those at the National Human Rights Commission and the Korean Red Cross.
At the meeting, Lee referenced a recent incident involving Korean Red Cross President Kim Chul-soo, who was reported to have made racist remarks about foreign ambassadors at a diplomatic event.
“A senior official recently made comments about ‘white faces and black faces’ and still holds his position,” Lee said. “This cannot be accepted in public service.”
In the wake of the controversy, Kim offered to resign after Lee ordered a government inspection into the matter. The Red Cross confirmed Kim had expressed his intention to step down and take responsibility for his remarks.
In another incident, a promotional video for the Gumi City Noodle Festival in North Gyeongsang Province was removed after drawing criticism for showing a performer in full blackface and a curly wig, impersonating a cartoon character from a popular cartoon from the 1980s called "Dooly the Little Dinosaur."
Lee also urged political parties to remove banners and slogans containing hateful or vulgar language, saying that the legal privileges granted to parties should not be abused.
“Even if a law is intended to protect political expression, it must be revised or abolished if it is being misused,” he said.
The president said he would continue to pursue reforms to ensure that hate speech and fabricated information are met with firm punishment while safeguarding free expression.
“Freedom of expression cannot justify indecent or divisive words,” he said. “Hate and falsehoods threaten the very foundation of democracy and must be confronted by law.”