An appellate court on the 3rd sentenced Attorney Kang Yong-seok, who was indicted for spreading falsehoods—such as claiming President Lee Jae-myung (then a Democratic Party of Korea presidential candidate) had a juvenile detention record—before the 2022 presidential election, to a one-year prison term, suspended for two years. This was a harsher sentence than the first trial, which had imposed a fine of 10 million Korean won.

The Seoul High Court Criminal Division 6-1 (Presiding Judge Jeong Jae-o) on that day, in the appeal trial for Kang’s violation of the Public Official Election Act, sentenced him to one year in prison, suspended for two years, and ordered 40 hours of community service. Kim Se-ui, representative of Hoverlab, who was co-indicted, received the same fine of 7 million Korean won as in the first trial.

In May 2021, ahead of the presidential election, Kang appeared on a Hoverlab broadcast and raised suspicions that President Lee had attended a juvenile detention center during his middle and high school years and altered his birthdate to conceal a criminal record. In November of the same year, when news broke that First Lady Kim Hea-kyung had suffered a fall, Kang and Kim jointly mentioned suspicions that “President Lee had an extramarital child due to an affair, and this led to a marital dispute resulting in her injury.”

The appellate court overturned the first trial’s acquittal and convicted Kang regarding the “juvenile detention” remarks. The court of...

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