Official seeks court injunction over alleged staged rally

A presidential official has sought a court injunction to ban the publication of a weekly magazine over its report that the official instructed a conservative civic activist to stage a rally in favor of the government, Cheong Wa Dae said Friday.

Sisa Journal reported that Huh Hyun-joon, an official handling communications with the public at the presidential office, sent a text message to Chu Sun-hee, secretary general of a conservative civic group, to hold a rally on Jan. 4 in support of South Korea's landmark deal with Japan about former sex slaves for Japanese troops during World War II.

Under the December deal, Japan formally apologized for its past actions and offered 1 billion yen (US$8.9 million) in reparations. South Korea agreed to end the dispute once and for all if Japan fully implements the deal.

Still, the South Korean government has been under fire from the former sex slaves and liberal activists for what they claim is the lack of a sincere apology from the Tokyo government. They insist the agreement lacks the admission of legal responsibility.

Chu told the magazine that his group, known as the Association for Parents of South Korea, staged a rally on Jan. 6, not Jan. 4 as requested by Huh.

Chu said his group held the rally on Jan. 6, a Wednesday, to coincide with a separate rally by former sex slaves and their supporters -- which has been held every Wednesday in front of the Japanese embassy since 1992.

The conservative civic group is at the center of a controversy after the weekly magazine published a separate report that the group mobilized more than 1,250 North Korean defectors for a total of 39 rallies in 2014 in return for 25 million won (US$21,000).

Huh also filed a suit against the weekly magazine and its reporters over what he claims is a false report while filing a separate suit demanding compensation for the report, presidential spokesman Jeong Yeon-guk said.

On Friday, the conservative civic group denied any involvement of the presidential office in its rallies. (Yonhap)