This article examines how parts of the Japanese mass media reported the case of Seo Seung in a sensational and sometimes inaccurate manner. It analyzes how false claims intensified support movements in Japan despite facts acknowledged during the trial.

This text highlights how inaccurate and emotionally charged media reporting can distort public understanding of political cases.
Using the Seo Seung case, it shows how false narratives spread by major newspapers fueled movements in Japan that were disconnected from facts acknowledged in court.

2017-06-21
Some Japanese mass media outlets reported the case in a sensational manner, including erroneous claims such as “South Korean authorities burned his face with fire.”
Seo Seung (based on Wikipedia) is a second-generation Zainichi Korean and a specially appointed professor at Ritsumeikan University.
He was born in Kyoto Prefecture, graduated from Tokyo University of Education in 1968, and was arrested by the KCIA in 1971 while studying at Seoul National University on suspicion of violating the National Security Law as a spy.
During interrogation, he attempted suicide and suffered severe burns to his face.
Because he appeared in court with burn injuries, some Japanese media falsely reported that South Korean authorities had burned his face, and the support movement in Japan intensified further.
At trial, he admitted that he had boarded what was known as a North Korean “spy ship” and illegally traveled to North Korea under the control of Kim Il-sung and the Workers’ Party of Korea.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment, later reduced to twenty years, and spent nineteen years in prison while claiming to be an unconverted political prisoner.
He was released in 1990 and later became active in movements opposing visits to Yasukuni Shrine.