Top South Korean judge faces disinformation deluge as President Yoon impeachment looms

SEOUL - Bogus child pornography claims, fabricated support for communism and fake posts showing Mr Elon Musk calling for his removal – a deluge of disinformation is targeting a top judge in suspended South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment trial.

South Korea’s Constitutional Court has for weeks deliberated on whether to uphold a parliamentary vote to remove Mr Yoon from office over his failed December bid to impose martial law in the country.

Leading the often-tense proceedings has been Mr Moon Hyung-bae, the court’s soft-spoken, liberal-leaning interim head, appointed to the bench in 2019 by then President Moon Jae-in.

With legal experts widely expecting the court to remove Mr Yoon from office in March, his conservative party and allies have launched a deluge of false and defamatory claims against Judge Moon.

“The purpose of such attacks is very clear – they are attempts to undercut the legitimacy of the impeachment decision,” said Professor Lee Jong-soo, an expert from Seoul’s Yonsei University, who said the impeachment was an “inevitability”.

Among the most damaging disinformation were claims, debunked by AFP, of Mr Moon’s involvement in sharing child pornography online.

Internet users shared what appeared to be a comment left by Mr Moon on a post containing a sexually graphic image depicting a minor.

Mr Yoon’s ruling People Power Party (PPP) amplified the false claim, demanding the judge’s resignation and condemning him for “consuming” pornography.

The party was later forced to retract its allegation and apologise – but only after it was revealed that the post was created by attaching a graphic image to an unrelated comment posted by Mr Moon to a forum for high school classmates.

That has not stopped Mr Yoon’s supporters from holding signs saying “Porn judge Moon Hyung-bae” outside the President’s impeachment hearings.

The fabricated post bred