Rep. Moon Jae-in, an opposition lawmaker and a likely presidential contender in 2017, criticized on Tuesday the South Korean prosecutors’ earlier decision to indict a Japanese journalist based in Seoul on a charge of defaming President Park Geun-hye with a report citing rumors about her whereabouts when a fatal ferry sank in April.

Moon, who lost to Park by a narrow margin in the 2012 presidential election, called the indictment an embarrassing affair and expressed concerns about alleged attempts by Park to silence her critics through scare tactics.

Speaking at a news conference, Moon of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy said the indictment of Tatsuya Kato and recent moves by prosecutors to monitor online messaging services were a threat to the freedom of expression, something that must be “guaranteed to the utmost.”

“I do not necessarily agree with the views of the Sankei Shimbun,” Moon said, in reference to the publication Kato works for. “But I do not think indicting an individual for publishing false facts is the right thing to do,” Moon added.

In October, prosecutors indicted Kato, then the Seoul bureau chief of Sankei Shimbun, on charges of spreading false rumors with his Aug. 3 article in which he suggested that Park had spent time with a “boyfriend” on April 16, as attempts to rescue victims of the ferry Sewol sinking were failing.

The Sewol accident is a national disaster that continues to trouble many South Koreans.

A Sankei Shimbun reporter present at Tuesday’s conference expressed his appreciation. But the lawmaker replied in a rather cold tone, saying his comments did not indicate support for Kato’s controversial story.

The right-wing Sankei has published stories that have poured vitriol on controversial historical issues between Seoul and Tokyo.

It has denied the Japanese military’s forcible sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II, for example, citing a lack of evidence.

Moon lost to Park in the 2012 presidential election, when he ran on the opposition ticket. But the former Special Forces soldier remains a serious contender for 2017, with some recent polls ranking him second in a possible presidential election behind Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon.

By Jeong Hunny (hj257@heraldcorp.com)