Police seek travel ban on former U.S. ambassador-at-large over alleged defamation of Korean president

Police are seeking to prevent Morse Tan, a professor at Liberty University and former U.S. ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice, from leaving Korea over an investigation into his alleged defamation of President Lee Jae Myung.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency requested that the Ministry of Justice ban Tan from leaving Korea claiming he posed a flight risk after Tan failed to comply with a summons to appear for questioning related to the defamation accusation, according to police on Monday.

Tan is accused of defaming President Lee by spreading false claims that Lee was involved in a murder case as a teenager and was subsequently sent to a juvenile detention center.

Investigations have been stalled since Tan had remained in the United States. He entered Korea on Thursday, ahead of the June 3 local elections, saying he intended to monitor and verify Korea's “election fraud.”

Police served Tan with a summons at the airport upon his arrival and demanded that he appear for questioning on Friday. Tan did not comply and instead submitted a written explanation for his absence along with a request to recuse the investigator handling the case.

Police believe the defamation allegations have merit and plan to issue another summons in the near future.

“We will conduct the necessary investigation in accordance with established procedures,” said Park Jeong-bo, commissioner of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, during a regular press briefing on Monday.

Separately, police have reportedly received 322 reports of election-related crimes linked to the June 3 local elections and are currently investigating 304 of them. Three people have been detained on charges including assaulting election workers. Eight election-related offenses involving AI were detected.

Police also plan to issue the highest election-security alert level on voting day. The measure suspends police leave and allows authorities to mobilize up to 100 percent of available personnel.

“We will do everything possible to ensure the security of ballot boxes and vote-counting centers,” said Commissioner Park. “We will also thoroughly investigate election crimes and hold those responsible accountable even after the election is over.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.

BY PARK JONG-SUH [[email protected]]