Far-right YouTubers fined for claiming President Lee had child from affair
Published: 20 Aug. 2025, 18:02
Updated: 20 Aug. 2025, 21:22
![Kim Se-ui, head of Hoverlab, left, and attorney Kang Yong-seok, appear at the Seoul Central District Court inv southern Seoul, for their sentencing hearing on June 20, 2023. [NEWS1]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/08/20/f5a58c24-c8f6-44d1-a695-4c0ecb232982.jpg)
Kim Se-ui, head of Hoverlab, left, and attorney Kang Yong-seok, appear at the Seoul Central District Court inv southern Seoul, for their sentencing hearing on June 20, 2023. [NEWS1]
Kim Se-ui, operator of the far-right political YouTube channel Hoverlab, and Kang Yong-seok, a former host of the channel, were fined by a Seoul court on Wednesday for claiming that President Lee Jae Myung had a child out of wedlock from an extramarital affair.
The Seoul Central District Court handed Kang 10 million won ($7,200) and Kim 7 million won.
The court imposed a harsher fine on Kang, citing "his leading role" in the scheme, while describing Kim’s involvement as "merely supporting Kang’s intent."
During the presidential campaign in 2021, the pair claimed that Lee had a child out of wedlock from an affair with a close aide, that this fueled a physical altercation with his wife Kim Hea Kyung, and that he also spent time in a juvenile detention center.
Prosecutors accused the pair of spreading falsehoods to hinder Lee’s election bid.
Kang made the remarks about adultery on Nov. 9, 2021, when then-presidential candidate Lee canceled all events of the day, citing a fall suffered by Kim Hea Kyung.
Attorney Kang and others questioned the explanation, saying, “If they actually had a fight, what could possibly have happened at 1:30 a.m. to make it that serious?” while raising suspicions of adultery and mentioning a specific individual.
The court found them guilty for the adultery and child claims, citing the absence of any objective evidence and noting the particularly harmful nature of spreading unverified and sensitive allegations.
But for the remarks about the alleged altercation between Lee and Kim Hye Kyung, the court found the defendants not guilty, saying that "considering that all scheduled events were canceled despite the busy presidential campaign, it is reasonable to speculate that something serious may have occurred and the accusation fell within the bounds of reasonable speculation."
![President Lee Jae Myung presides over the Ulchi Cabinet meeting at the presidential office in central Seoul on Aug. 18. [YONHAP]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/08/20/9eac282d-7bb0-48ef-ba8a-95168c44aca2.jpg)
President Lee Jae Myung presides over the Ulchi Cabinet meeting at the presidential office in central Seoul on Aug. 18. [YONHAP]
The court also found the defendants not guilty for the allegation that Lee had attended a juvenile detention center.
In broadcasts aired in May and December 2021, Kang claimed multiple times that Lee committed a crime and was sent to a juvenile detention center during his younger years, when he worked at a factory instead of attending middle and high school.
“The most questionable part of Lee Jae Myung’s past is the blank space during his middle and high school years,” Kang said.
When an internet user commented, “He took the qualification exam because he had been in juvie,” Kang responded, “Is that a rumor going around? It’s an old one.”
But the court ruled that Kang merely implied Lee had a questionable past or criminal history and did not present any specific facts.
"The channel likely had considerable influence given its number of subscribers and viewers," the court said. "But we could not determine the extent to which voters’ perceptions were distorted due to a lack of data on the channel's credibility."
The court also pointed out that no follow-up reports were made after the broadcast and that the defendants failed to fact-check their claims, which it described as a serious offense.
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 KIM JUN-YOUNG [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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