Rumors fly as Wonju sex scandal spirals outward

Lee Chul-gyu, former chief of the Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency, has accused 55 netizens of defamation.

Lee said that people have indiscriminately distributed his real name on the Internet as one of the people who participated in the sex parties thrown by a 51-year-old contractor surnamed Yoon.

Yoon is suspected of offering sexual entertainment to influential people, including high-ranking government officials, at his villa in Wonju, Gangwon, over the course of two years.

“We have accused 55 people, who have distributed false information on Twitter saying Lee appeared on the sex video file, to the National Police Agency,” a representative of Lawtec, the law firm representing Lee, told reporters on Monday evening.

Lawtec said the Twitter users, who have posted the rumors, and even those who retweeted the message are included in the 55 accused.

In March, the police said they secured a two-minute video that contains scenes of high-ranking government officials having a sex party with women, but has failed to identify who the men in the video are due to the poor quality of the video.

The police also said a university student surnamed Choi testified that she had sex with Kim Hak-eui, who resigned as vice minister of the Ministry of Justice in March after being implicated in the scandal, but failed to prove the allegation as they couldn’t come up with enough substantial evidence.

While the police have mountains of allegations on incumbent and former government officials but failed to prove any of them, names of high-ranking government officials, who weren’t even mentioned as being involved in the scandal by the police, have been indiscriminately distributed on the Internet in past weeks.

Several people, including Lee, the resigned vice minister of justice, Huh Joon-young, former chief of the National Police Agency, and some in the medical and legal circles have gotten wrapped up in the case.

“We will additionally accuse people if they post such false information on the Internet,” an official of Lawtec said. “Lee was extremely shocked due to severe personal attacks on him. He isn’t acquainted with Yoon, and has no clue why he is implicated in this ridiculous scandal.”

Lawtec said they will lodge a compensation claim against the person who initially posted Lee’s real name on Twitter.

“Lee thinks that the honor of the entire organization of the police where he has served for more than 30 years was ruined due to some netizens’ irresponsible behavior,” his legal representation told reporters. “Lee decided to take this legal action in order to regain the honor of the police.”

Huh posted a message on Twitter that read: “I will commit hara-kiri if I’m involved in the scandal,” in response to the rumors.

Huh later told reporters that he decided to post such a strong message in order to prove his innocence, but it didn’t work. His name appeared more often on the Internet afterward.

“My family was shocked, and they all are having hard time living an ordinary life,” Huh said.

By Chug Kang-hyun, Kwon Sang-soo [sakwon80@joongang.co.kr]