By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-10-19 18:41:25 | Updated at 2026-10-19 19:21:21
43 minutes ago
Morse Tan, a former U.S. ambassador-at-large barred from leaving South Korea since May, pleaded not guilty on Friday as his criminal defamation trial opened in Seoul.
He told supporters outside the court that the proceedings were unlawful.
“Everyone, thank you sincerely for coming here and for supporting and backing me. I know that among those who came here, some came from very distant places such as Busan and Daegu, and I am deeply grateful,” Tan said through an interpreter, according to a computer-aided English translation of a Korean broadcast from outside the court.
“I pleaded not guilty in court,” he said.
“By every measure, the trial now under way is completely wrong,” Tan said. “How can a U.S. citizen be tried in a Korean court over remarks he made in the United States? And how can the very act of asking a question be considered illegal in Korea?”
Tan was indicted without detention on July 16 on charges of criminal defamation under South Korea’s Information and Communications Network Act and its Criminal Act, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, which identified the prosecuting authority as Criminal Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office.
The charges stem from allegations Tan made during a June 2025 news conference in Washington, D.C., that South Korean President Lee Jae Myung had been involved in a violent crime as a teenager and subsequently incarcerated in a juvenile detention facility. Prosecutors examined juvenile detention records and concluded the allegations were false, according to Yonhap News Agency. Defamation can carry prison time and fines in South Korea.
The Embassy of the Republic of Korea did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.
Calling the process unfair, Tan said he had not received the indictment in time through the proper channel.
“This is wrong even under the Constitution of the Republic of Korea,” he said. “Even within the provisions of the Korean Constitution, saying what I believe to be true, or what is true, is everyone’s right, protected as freedom of expression.”
And finally, Tan said the matters involving the trial “are illegal under international law as well.”
“Whether on the basis of the Korean Constitution, the American Constitution, or international law, everything I said is a fundamental human right protected under freedom of expression.”
An emcee at the public event said Tan “did not come because of his own affairs; he came out of a desire to protect free Korea, to be with free Korea, and to see God’s will done.”
Defense attorney So Jeong-in said Tan received the indictment late because it was served on the defense team’s law office and not passed on.
The ambassador “received the indictment directly only in court today,” So said. “We can fully win a not-guilty verdict and a dismissal of the indictment and prevail in this fight.”
The White House has not commented on the case. A U.S. State Department spokesperson said earlier that the administration was aware of Tan’s situation but had “nothing further to share at this time.” The department reiterated those comments late Thursday via email to The Epoch Times.
Tan, ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice from December 2019 to January 2021, entered South Korea on May 28. Yonhap News Agency reported three successive departure bans. A statement issued Oct. 10 by TPUSA Faith, the religious outreach branch of Turning Point USA, says they now extend through Nov. 15.
Tan earlier this month delivered a eulogy in South Korea for his grandmother who passed away in the United States. “I really wanted to be there to honor her,” he said in a clip posted on social media. “My grandmother would pray for every member of the family, down to the great-grandchildren, every single day.”
On Oct. 11, Tan preached at Gwanghwamun Church in Seoul. “There’s even a lawsuit against me, one of Trump’s former ambassadors,” he said. “But as I tell people in America, this shows how much the rule of law and justice in Korea has broken down.”
On Aug. 13, Reps. Young Kim (R-Calif.), Brian Mast (R-Fla.), Michael Cloud (R-Texas), and Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.) wrote to South Korean Ambassador Kang Kyung-wha. “We respectfully urge the ROK government to lift the exit ban on Ambassador Tan,” the letter said.
Sam Brownback, the former Kansas governor and U.S. senator who served as ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom in the first Trump administration, told The Epoch Times it was “unbelievable that Morse is on trial in South Korea.” The religious liberty advocate has previously called for an end to Tan’s travel ban.
The TPUSA Faith statement, signed by Pastor Lucas Miles, urged South Korea “to lift the travel restrictions on Ambassador Tan without delay and to withdraw the speech-related prosecutions.”
