A woman accused of libeling President Park Geun-hye was sentenced to four months in prison with a one-year stay of execution, a Seoul district court said Wednesday, as Korean authorities clamped down on online badmouthing of the Korean leader.

The woman, in her 40s and identified only by the surname Tak, was found guilty of spreading false rumors against Park, claiming that the president had an extramarital affair both with her former mentor, pastor Choi Tae-min, and his son-in-law Chung Yoon-hoe.

“Postings by the defendant had nothing to do with Park’s role as the president. … Considering the defamation caused by her writings, its severity and the expressions she used, the court believes the defendant’s purpose was to slander the president,” the court said in its ruling.

It said while Korea’s constitution endorses freedom of expression and allows people to express their own opinions about public figures, Tak’s writing was “over the line.”

The rumors surrounding the president and her supposed secret relationships surfaced when Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun reported in August that Park had been with a key adviser at a private residence during the time of the deadly sinking of the ferry Sewol in April. Subsequent rumors pinpointed the adviser as Park’s former aide Chung.

The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae denied the rumors, and an ensuing investigation by prosecutors concluded that the reports were false.

But this was not the first time Chung had been mentioned in rumors concerning his former boss. In June, Rep. Park Jie-won of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy claimed an unofficial group of Park confidants ― called “man-man-hoi” ―intervened in the personnel decisions of the presidential office.

The alleged members of the supposed group include Chung, Park’s secretary Lee Jae-man and her brother Jie-man, all of whom publicly denied that such a group even exists.

The prosecution has vowed to take “proactive” measures against the spread of malicious false comments. It has already indicted Rep. Park for defamation and is mulling legal actions against Sankei and even a Korean who translated the article.

The zero-tolerance approach has sparked a major pushback from the opposition party and the public, who suspect that the government is attempting to muzzle any unfavorable public opinion expressed about the administration.

In light of the wide-scale crackdown, some Korean social media users have even stopped using the nation’s largest mobile messenger, KakaoTalk, and switched to foreign-based messengers which cannot be monitored by state authorities.

By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)