Several Republican members of Congress have urged South Korea to lift an exit ban preventing former U.S. Ambassador Morse H. Tan from leaving the country while he faces a criminal defamation case involving remarks allegedly made in the United States.
“I am deeply concerned by the South Korean government's continued exit ban on former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large Morse Tan [and] urge for his release. The U.S.-ROK relationship is built on more than 70 years of mutual trust [and] respect, [and] we cannot allow this issue to overshadow our enduring alliance,” Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., chair of the House Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs, wrote Wednesday on X.
Kim’s statement followed a claim by former South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn that Tan’s latest exit ban, reportedly due to expire Aug. 15, had been extended by another three months ahead of his first trial hearing on Sept. 11.
“This is absurd. What on earth is there to do that requires three months? The Lee Jae-myung administration will certainly pay a heavy price for this,” Hwang wrote in Korean.
Tan, who could face prison time, has been repeatedly barred from leaving South Korea since arriving May 28 to observe local elections amid allegations of irregularities and Chinese interference.
Kim also shared an Aug. 13 letter to South Korean Ambassador Kang Kyung-hwa signed by Reps. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, Christopher H. Smith, R-N.J., and Brian Mast, R-Fla., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The lawmakers described Tan as “an American citizen unable to return home” and noted that he served as U.S. ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice from 2019 to 2021.
“Ambassador Tan came to the ROK [Republic of Korea] in late May as part of a privately organized effort to monitor the country's June elections. After arriving in the ROK, Tan faced remarkably unfair treatment from the ROK government over statements he made while in the United States. Ambassador Tan was banned from leaving the country, and last month he was indicted for alleged defamation of the ROK President [Lee Jae Myung]. Ambassador Tan now awaits trial,” the letter said in part.
“This treatment raises serious concerns about freedom of expression and due process. The case regards statements Ambassador Tan made as a private American citizen while in the United States. Mr. Tan's First Amendment rights as an American citizen must be respected,” the members continued, adding that the U.S.-Korean alliance includes “a shared commitment to representative government, individual liberty, freedom of expression, and the rule of law.”
The lawmakers said a congressional delegation met with Tan last month and confirmed that he “remains in good health and positive spirits,” while calling on South Korea to “lift the exit ban on Ambassador Tan to let him return home.”
Tan previously spoke with The Christian Post and later appeared twice on Stephen K. Bannon’s “War Room” podcast. The charges stem from allegedly defamatory remarks about South Korean President Lee Jae Myung made during an election-integrity event at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., last year.
A vocal critic of the current South Korean government, Tan has called it “a rising dictatorship” and alleged that the country faces growing communist infiltration.
