Police have opened an investigation into allegations that Democratic Party of Korea leader Kim Min-seok disclosed a political YouTuber's party membership records without authorization.
Seoul's Yeongdeungpo Police Station questioned Lee Jong-won, who runs the YouTube channel Sisa Tapa TV, as a complainant on the 6th. Lee filed a criminal complaint against Kim on Sept. 4, accusing him of violating the Personal Information Protection Act and of defamation under the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection.
Kim had written on X, formerly Twitter, on Aug. 30 that he had issued special instructions to confirm Lee was a party member in connection with the dispute over alleged rigging of a party convention opinion poll, and to have the ethics inspection unit conduct an urgent review and report on whether emergency disciplinary action was needed. Lee is under investigation on suspicion of encouraging viewers to misstate their place of residence and age when responding to an opinion poll on preferences among candidates for Democratic Party leader.
Lee contends that Kim used his access to party membership records to make public sensitive personal data, including Lee's political views. He also argues that Kim damaged his reputation by identifying him as a party to the alleged poll manipulation before any formal inquiry had begun.
Ahead of the questioning, Lee said party membership records are sensitive personal data that belong to members rather than to the party leader. He said the process and grounds by which a member's personal data was made public — and by which disciplinary action and expulsion came to be discussed, simply because he had criticized the party leader — should be disclosed transparently. Police plan to establish from Lee the circumstances of his complaint and the underlying facts.
