In the early 1990s, false rumours began to circulate that Lee had never existed and that his death was the creation of South Korean propaganda.
[citation needed] On the night of 30 October 1968, 120 members of Unit 124 of the Korean People's Army landed at 8 separate locations between Ulchin and Samcheok in Gangwon province and moved inland on a 30-day mission to create guerilla bases in the Taebaek Mountains.
[2] In the early 1990s, rumours began to circulate that Lee never existed and the story of his murder had been created by propaganda units of the South Korean military governments.
In July 1999, prosecutors charged Kim Ju-eon, the former general secretary of the People's Coalition for Media Reform with defamation after he included the 11 December 1968 The Chosun Ilbo report, entitled, "I Don't Like the Communist Party.
In October 2004, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Kim to six months prison and two years probation for "spreading false facts" and concluded that the incident had taken place and that the media reports at the time were accurate.