Man turns himself in over offensive comment about car crash victims in South Korea
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Policemen and Korea Road Traffic Authority officials investigate at the site of a July 1 car accident, which left at least nine people dead, in Seoul on July 2, 2024.
PHOTO: AFP
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SEOUL - A man who wrote an insulting message about the victims of the car crash on the night of July 1
Seoul Namdaemun Police Station said on July 5 it was investigating a man in his 20s, who turned himself in for leaving a memo mocking the victims at the make-shift shrine for the victims near the Seoul City Hall in Jung-gu, central Seoul.
He told police at around 3.15pm on July 4 that he wished to turn himself in, shortly after it was reported that police were investigating the controversial comments.
The suspect, who likened the victims to “tomato juice” in the memo that sparked nationwide furore, is facing possible charges of defamation of a dead person, which is punishable by up to two years’ jail or a fine of 5 million won (S$4,900).
Another woman in her 30s suspected of writing a message widely criticised as derisive towards the victims, claimed to be school friends with two of the victims. But when a reporter asked her which of the victims were her friends, she admitted that she did not know the victims.
The police said it decided that the woman’s memo, which expressed condolences in a way that many saw as inappropriately light-hearted, did not need investigation.
A series of ill-natured comments towards the victims sparked a public furore after the July 1 tragedy.
In a now-deleted post from a women-only online forum, some members called the tragedy a “bowling day”, while celebrating the fact that all the victims were men. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
