Court Clears YouTuber Jeong of Charges Over Livestreaming President Yoon’s Daily Commute

YouTuber Jeong, who raised questions about South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s commute by livestreaming his journey to work, has been acquitted of charges related to traffic law violations.

Legal sources confirmed on Monday that Lim Jung Yeop, the Chief Judge of the 2nd Criminal Division at the Seoul Northern District Court, ruled on Friday that Jeong was not guilty of the alleged traffic violations.

Since 2023, Jeong has been filming Yoon’s commute from the presidential residence in Hannam-dong to the Yongsan Presidential Office, suggesting that Yoon regularly arrived late to work.

During his live-streaming activities, Jeong operated his vehicle while streaming content from his phone, which was positioned within view while driving.

He also declined to show his driver’s license to the police during a traffic stop without providing a valid reason.

However, the court determined that these actions did not qualify as criminal.

The court explained that the video displayed while Jeong was driving was not a video played or received on his phone but footage recorded by a camera installed in the vehicle. Because of this, it did not count as watching while driving under South Korea’s Road Traffic Act.

As a result, since none of the charges were deemed criminal, the court ruled that Jeong was not obligated to present his driver’s license during the police inspection.

In related news, the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) held a meeting on January 8 and decided to block access to 37 videos related to Yoon’s commute, including those on Jeong’s YouTube channel.