The Korea Herald reported Monday that South Korea’s agriculture ministry is considering legal action against three social media posts it calls serious and malicious, amid separate online claims about egg imports and a farmland survey.
The report said the ministry had not identified the accounts or specified which legal provisions it might invoke. The ministry said claims about egg imports and a separate farmland survey remained in circulation on YouTube, Instagram and other platforms despite explanations through statements, interviews and its own social media channels.
The ministry said claims from individual accounts are harder to correct than news coverage. It said lawmakers’ questions fall within their oversight role, while the government can seek corrections or mediation over news reports. Platforms, the ministry said, rarely grant requests to remove posts.
The ministry described the Brazilian egg purchases as a trial of a Southern Hemisphere supplier in case highly pathogenic avian influenza disrupts supply. Brazilian eggs made up 0.8% of South Korea’s total egg imports, according to the ministry. It put the purchase price at 178 won per egg and cited payments to South Korean airlines for transportation, along with tariffs collected by the government, as additional costs.
The ministry rejected online allegations that taxpayers absorbed 80 billion won ($60.2 million) in losses on the Brazilian egg imports. It called that allegation false and also rejected allegations of kickbacks and political motives.
On the farmland survey, the ministry said posts had portrayed it as a way to compel landowners to sell and put farmland in government hands. It rejected that characterization.
The ministry said dedicated staff are monitoring online claims. It plans to establish a reporting center and seek the removal of serious posts while reviewing possible legal action against their publishers.
