Former Trump diplomat Morse Tan pleads not guilty to defaming South Korean president

Former Trump diplomat Morse H. Tan pleaded not guilty in the Seoul Central District Court on Friday to charges that he criminally defamed South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in remarks he made on American soil last year.

Legal defense for Tan, who served as U.S. ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice under President Donald Trump from 2019 to 2021, argued during his first trial hearing that South Korea lacks legal jurisdiction to prosecute him for comments he made in the United States, according to Korean outlet SBS News.

Tan has been banned from leaving South Korea since late May, when he arrived in the country to observe local elections amid allegations of irregularities and Chinese interference. He was swept up into a reopened criminal investigation against him for remarks he made about Lee during a June 2025 event about Korean election integrity at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

A clip went viral on social media at the time of Tan noting at the event that there have been reports that Lee was allegedly involved in "gang-raping and murdering a young lady" when he was a teenager, and that he was consequently unable to attend junior high and high school after being put in juvenile detention.

In July, Tan was indicted without detention under South Korea's Criminal Act and the Information and Communications Network Act, which Lee and his ruling party revised last year to crack down on so-called "fake news" that could harm political candidates. Defamation in South Korea is a criminal offense that carries potential prison time and hefty fines.

During an interview in August with The Christian Post, Tan was skeptical of the Korean courts and fact-checks that have dismissed the allegations he repeated against Lee, though he framed his situation as a broader violation of his rights as a U.S. citizen amid the erosion of rights in South Korea.

Tan described South Korea's government to CP at the time as "a rising dictatorship" that is increasingly communist in its tactics, hostile to Christianity and subject to "massive infiltration by Chinese Communist Party and North Korean spies, operatives and agents flooding the country."

Tan's defense maintained in court on Friday that even if South Korea's jurisdiction over his speech is recognized, "there was no disclosure of false facts, nor was there any awareness that the statements were false" and that "there was also no intent to defame," according to SBS News.

"I plead not guilty to the charges in the indictment," said Tan, who also formerly served as dean of Liberty University School of Law. "I believe the content regarding President Lee is true."

"It is unfair for me, an American citizen, to go through this in a South Korean court," Tan reportedly said as he was leaving the courtroom. "If someone believes something is true or speaks the truth, it should be guaranteed as freedom of expression."

Tan's exit ban, which prohibited him from attending his 103-year-old grandmother's funeral earlier this month, extends until at least Nov. 15.

Tan's situation has received scant coverage in U.S. media, though it has drawn condemnation from four Republican members of Congress, including Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., who serves as chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs. The members sent a letter to South Korean Ambassador Kang Kyung-wha in August condemning Tan's "remarkably unfair treatment" over political speech he expressed while in his own country.

Pastor Lucas Miles, who leads TPUSA Faith, issued a statement Wednesday noting that Tan is not only a former U.S. diplomat, but also a consecrated missionary of Chamjon Church in Seoul and the U.S. co-chair of the Re-evangelization of Korea Movement. He expressed concern about the legal precedent and potential chilling effect that Tan's case presents for Americans in South Korea, especially Christian missionaries.

Morse Tan is an American citizen and a former U.S. Ambassador who is currently barred from leaving South Korea and is facing a hearing on October 16th that could land him in a South Korean jail cell. No American should face this. We urge Washington to act without delay, and that Seoul lift the ban, end the prosecutions, and let him come home. @SecRubio @FaithAdvisory @realDonaldTrump @CissieGLynch @Paula_White @USAmbROK

— Lucas Miles (@lucasmiles) October 14, 2026

"If a former U.S. ambassador can be imprisoned for what he said in an American city, then no American who speaks about a foreign government is secure, whether a pastor, a scholar, or a private citizen; every missionary is on notice that preaching and public questions may bring detention; and every government watching learns that silencing a foreign critic carries little cost," Miles wrote.

"Nations that reach across borders to punish speech do not stop with one case; this is the precedent at stake, and it is why this alliance, sealed by some 50,000 American casualties in the Korean War and built on freedom of speech and conscience, must not tolerate it," he continued.

Miles urged Congress and the U.S. State Department "to treat the defense of an American citizen's liberty as a matter of national honor, and to make clear, through every diplomatic channel, that it will be defended."

The scope of South Korea's Information and Communications Network Act, under which Tan was charged, has raised concerns from members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee who fear the law is being used to crack down on the constitutional free speech rights of American citizens and companies.

Sam Brownback, who served with Tan during Trump's first term as U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, told The Christian Post last month that he was "shocked" by his former colleague's exit ban and called on the Trump administration to intervene. He echoed Tan's concerns about the political trajectory of South Korea, whose former President Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to life imprisonment earlier this year for declaring martial law in 2024.

"The continued detainment of an American citizen and former diplomat by a democratic ally for something he said defies belief. This shouldn't be happening. South Korea should allow Morse Tan to return home now," Brownback said.

The continued detainment of an American citizen and former diplomat by a democratic ally for something he said defies belief. This shouldn't be happening. South Korea should allow Morse Tan to return home now.https://t.co/NyjzE2AQSK

— Sam Brownback (@SamuelBrownback) September 12, 2026

The U.S. State Department suggested to CP that it is aware of Tan's situation, noting the Trump administration "has no higher priority than the safety and security of Americans" and "takes seriously any concerns that U.S. citizens are subject to exit bans without a fair and transparent process to resolve them."

"Due to privacy and other considerations, we have nothing further to share at this time," a spokesperson added.