Cabinet approves bills to form special tribunals for insurrection, impose punitive damages for fake news
Published: 30 Dec. 2025, 16:42
![President Lee Jae Myung, center, presides a Cabinet meeting at the Blue House in central Seoul on Dec. 30. [YONHAP]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/12/30/9d035c0f-2af3-4131-971f-1dd86b5f777e.jpg)
President Lee Jae Myung, center, presides a Cabinet meeting at the Blue House in central Seoul on Dec. 30. [YONHAP]
The Cabinet approved on Tuesday a bill to create special tribunals to hear insurrection and other charges against former President Yoon Suk Yeol, along with a separate revision to the Information and Communications Network Act that allows punitive damages against media outlets and YouTubers for spreading false or manipulated information.
President Lee Jae Myung presided over the Cabinet meeting at the Blue House in central Seoul and approved the promulgation of the Special Act on Criminal Procedures for Insurrection, Foreign Collusion and Rebellion Crimes (translated).
The National Assembly passed the bill on Dec. 23. It requires the Seoul Central District Court and the Seoul High Court to set up at least two trial divisions each dedicated to insurrection-related cases.
The insurrection-related cases refer to legal investigations and allegations that Yoon orchestrated or led actions that may constitute an attempted coup against the country with his declaration of martial law on Dec. 3, 2024.
Under the bill, judges at each court will first establish guidelines for forming the divisions. A court panel in charge of judicial assignments will then draft a plan for judge appointments, which the council of judges will vote to approve.
The bill also requires Seoul Central District Court to designate at least two judges to review warrants related to investigations into alleged insurrection, including warrants for searches, arrests and detention. The courts will appoint the warrant judges through the same process used to form the dedicated trial divisions.
The bill stipulates that the dedicated trial divisions will, in principle, be established at the trial court level, but an addendum allows ongoing cases to remain with their current courts if trials are already underway when the law takes effect.
The Cabinet also approved a revision to the Information and Communications Network Act that introduces punitive damages for the distribution of “false or manipulated information.” The revision targets media outlets and content creators, including YouTubers, who spread such content and cause harm.
The core of the bill is a provision that allows plaintiffs to seek punitive damages of up to five times the actual harm caused by the spread of false or manipulated information.
![The YouTube app is displayed on an iPad in Baltimore on March 20, 2018. [AP/YONHAP]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/12/30/444fbd6e-4429-48c6-97c7-7b0180c6bfa7.jpg)
The YouTube app is displayed on an iPad in Baltimore on March 20, 2018. [AP/YONHAP]
The bill defines “false information” as content that is wholly or partially untrue and “manipulated information” as content altered in a way that misleads people into believing it is factual.
The revised Information and Communications Network Act will take effect six months after promulgation.
The main opposition People Power Party called the bills an attempt to “take control of the judiciary” and described the misinformation bill as “an obviously unconstitutional and oppressive law that silences the entire nation,” and launched a filibuster, but it failed to prevent the bills from passing due to its smaller number of seats in the National Assembly.
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 CHO MUN-GYU [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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