The People Power Party (PPP) apologized on the 14th after it was confirmed that their commentary claiming Moon Hyung-bae, acting chief justice of the Constitutional Court, had directly commented on underage sexual posts was false. PPP floor leader Park Soo-min said, "There were shortcomings in the fact-checking process," and apologized to the public.
Background and Errors in the Commentary
PPP spokesperson Park Min-young claimed in a commentary the previous day that Justice Moon had directly commented on underage sexual posts on a high school alumni cafe. However, this was found to be a manipulated photo circulating online.
Party's Position
Spokesperson Park said, "We tried to cross-check, but the comments on the cafe had already been deleted, so there was no clear basis to verify." She added, "I am sorry for not having properly reviewed the matter." However, she also argued that "over 2,000 obscene posts have been uploaded to the cafe over the past 12 years, and it is impossible not to see them while frequenting the cafe," raising questions about Justice Moon's responsibility.
Political Debate
Despite the error in the commentary, the PPP continued to criticize the operation and bias of the Constitutional Court. Floor leader Park Soo-min said, "Please consider separately the issues of the Constitutional Court's unilateral operation, bias, and eligibility disputes, which are matters that we, as a constitutional body, must express our opinions on."
Future Prospects
This incident exposed problems with the PPP's information verification system. In the future, the PPP will need to restore trust by issuing commentaries based on accurate facts.
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