▲ Liberal civic activists hold a news conference in front of the Korean National Police Agency in western Seoul on June 2, 2026, calling for the immediate arrest of Korean American scholar Morse Tan. (Yonhap)

US scholar-travel ban

U.S. scholar under probe for defaming Lee files suit against travel ban

SEOUL, June 2 (Yonhap) -- Morse Tan, a Korean American professor accused of defaming President Lee Jae Myung, has asked a Seoul court to invalidate a travel ban imposed on him by the justice ministry, judicial officials said Tuesday.

Tan filed a lawsuit with the Seoul Administrative Court on Monday seeking to overturn the ministry's exit ban on him and requested a suspension of its execution, the officials said.

Tan is suspected of having defamed the South Korean president by spreading false information about him, claiming during an event in Washington last year that Lee had been involved in a gang rape and murder of a girl during his youth, and that he was sent to a juvenile detention center.

He is also known for making claims of election fraud in South Korea, including his earlier argument that the last presidential election here was rigged. Tan, dean of Liberty University School of Law, formerly served as U.S. ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice under the first Donald Trump administration.

Tan had been staying in the U.S., complicating the South Korean police investigation, but entered South Korea on Thursday ahead of the June 3 local elections, saying he would monitor and verify potential election fraud.

Police asked the ministry earlier Monday to approve an exit ban for Tan, citing flight risk after he failed to comply with a previous summons.

Meanwhile, a liberal civic group held a news conference in front of the Korean National Police Agency in western Seoul on Tuesday afternoon, calling for Tan's immediate arrest.

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