Man accused of buying students luxury gifts, trying to enroll in school now facing charges
An 18-year-old South Korean native in metro Atlanta on a tourist visa is facing charges days after being banned from school campuses in Gwinnett and Hall counties.
Dongha Lee was arrested on Wednesday afternoon at a home in Flowery Branch. He's currently being held in the Hall County Jail on an immigration hold and a hold for Gwinnett County. It's unclear what Gwinnett County plans to charge Lee with.
Lee sparked controversy on Monday when Seckinger High School officials sent parents an urgent letter warning about an individual contacting students through social media and inviting them to meet in person.
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By Tuesday, both Gwinnett County School Police and Hall County Sheriff's deputies had issued criminal trespass warnings against him after he attempted to enroll at West Hall High School. Hall County School officials say he didn't have the proper paperwork and he was not the appropriate age.
Lee spoke with Channel 2 Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Matt Johnson on Wednesday, claiming his presence at Seckinger High School last week was legitimate, stating unidentified parents let him in and staff provided him with a visitor's badge.
As for why he came to Georgia, he says it was to reconnect with people he had met previously. He denied he ever introducing himself as a student at the school.
'I arrived in here, like five days ago, and I didn't do anything illegal,' he insisted.
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He was accused of buying luxury gifts for students, as well.
While admitting to purchasing gifts for teens he met, he downplayed their significance and said he did it to make friends.
'I bought gifts, but it was like 43 U.S. dollars included tax. Also, it is not luxury gift,' he said. 'I'm using my parents' money.'
When directly confronted whether he is a danger to others, he stated firmly: 'No I'm not a pedophilia so I'm not.'
Homeland Security investigated and confirmed Tuesday that Lee possesses a valid 90-day tourist visa.
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SEOUL — It's been a season of legal woes for former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. His short-lived declaration of martial law on Dec. 3 first landed him in front of the Constitutional Court — which removed him from office later that month — and then in the Seoul Central District Court, where he is now being tried on charges of insurrection. There is also the group of 105 irate citizens suing Yoon for emotional damages related to his power grab, which sent special forces soldiers to occupy the National Assembly and brought the press briefly under military control. Filed shortly after South Korean lawmakers voted to overrule Yoon's martial law order last year, the lawsuit is demanding compensation of 100,000 won ($73) for each of its plaintiffs. The first hearing is due later this month. 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The closest example is a series of similar suits filed by South Korean citizens against Park in 2016. They sought 500,000 won ($364) per plaintiff. But the Supreme Court dismissed those claims in 2020, saying that 'even if there were South Korean citizens who felt emotions like anger due to the defendant's actions, it cannot be said that this constituted a level of mental distress that necessitates compensation for every citizen.' Still, Lee figures that his suit against Yoon has at least a marginally higher chance of success, given the far graver offense at hand. 'The case against Park was related to corruption — it wasn't a case of the president unconstitutionally infringing on people's basic rights,' he said. 'The martial law forces actually went to the National Assembly and pointed their rifles at legislators and their staff. I do think that people's right to life was directly threatened.' Some legal experts agree. 'I am also curious whether this will work or not,' said a judge in Seoul who requested anonymity to comment on an ongoing case. 'Under current jurisprudence, I don't think it's entirely impossible.' Given South Korea's history with authoritarianism, Lee argues, the claim to emotional distress isn't just courtroom theater. South Koreans lived under a dictatorship as recently as the 1980s. Political repression and violence are still part of the country's memory. The last declaration of martial law was made in May 1980 by the Chun Doo-hwan military junta, which sent special forces units to violently quash pro-democracy protests in the city of Gwangju. More than 160 civilians were killed, many of them gunned down by soldiers in the streets. Lee, who is from Gwangju, remembers watching a tank roll down the street behind his house as a child. 'The national trauma from those events led to a real and deep fear in many South Koreans,' he said. Han Ki-chang, a real estate agent and one of the 105 plaintiffs, says that he suffered from 'martial law insomnia.' The term entered the popular vernacular in the last few months and has been covered by the national media as an anecdotal phenomenon, with some older South Koreans saying it stirred panicked memories of living under authoritarian rule. 'It was real. I had trouble sleeping in January and February,' Han said. 'And I could tell I wasn't the only one. Whenever I'd message people or post in a group chat in the middle of the night, a lot of people would respond, saying they needed to sleep but couldn't.' At least one other group is preparing their own emotional damages lawsuit against the former president. Lee, the attorney, expects that there will be even more suits because he has been sending out copies of his complaint to anyone who wants it. They can just fill in their names and file their own. 'If we win this case, that might make it possible for all 52 million South Korean citizens to claim damages,' he said. He quickly did the math: at $7.30 per person, a total of $380 million.
