South Korea Declares War on ‘Fake News,’ Worrying Government Critics

Mr. Lee was furious last week after he visited Vietnam for the state funeral for its president, Tran Dai Quang. While in Hanoi, he visited the stilt house of Ho Chi Minh and wrote in the visitors’ book at the compound that he felt “humble” before the “great” Vietnamese leader. South Korea fought against his Communist forces alongside the Americans during the Vietnam War. When the photograph of Mr. Lee’s tribute was reported in South Korea, conservative critics called him a “commie” on social media. Some even falsely suggested that Mr. Lee made the tribute not to Ho but to Kim Il-sung, the founder of North Korea and the grandfather of its current leader, Kim Jong-un. Mr. Lee has called the misinformation “vicious.”