A reporter for an online news outlet was booked Monday without detention for defaming the family of a high school student missing in the ferry accident, Daegu police said.

The 47-year-old man, identified only by his surname Seo, on his Facebook page on April 19 harshly criticized an interview with the mother of a missing Danwon High School student, in which she blamed the government and president for their sloppy response to the disaster.

He called the mother “insane” and the interview “a play of a pro-North leftist engaged in propaganda and demagoguery at the instruction of the North Korean regime,” saying her son “rightly died.”

Seo reportedly told police that he has a “right-wing inclination” and “favorable attitude toward the incumbent administration,” and wrote the comment because “pro-North, left-wing forces often recklessly slander the government.”

Police vowed stern punishment for such inflammatory postings and spreading false information regarding the ongoing rescue work.

The reporter was charged for breaching the Act on Promotion of Information and Communication Network Utilization and information Protection, etc.

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)