Yoo Si-min Mentions Reporter and Chief Prosecutor by Name: "Sue Me If It's Defamation"
[Asia Economy Reporter Han Seung-gon] Amid allegations that a Channel A reporter pressured a source to reveal misconduct by Yoo Si-min, chairman of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation, by leveraging a friendship with a sitting chief prosecutor, Yoo publicly disclosed the real names of the reporter and the chief prosecutor presumed to be involved in the matter during an interview with a media outlet. Yoo stated that if there are legal issues, they should sue him, raising the possibility of a direct confrontation between Yoo and the prosecution.
In an interview on June 3 with MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus,' when the host asked, "Is it true or false that you directly or indirectly invested in ShillaJen stocks or were involved in related interests?" Yoo responded, "I say no, but reporter OOO does not believe it, and chief prosecutor △△△ does not believe it either," mentioning the real names of the reporter and the prosecution official.
Regarding the reason for mentioning real names, he retorted, "Mr. Lee Cheol and I have our faces plastered on every newspaper and broadcast, but are those people Voldemort from Harry Potter?"
He then referred to a column, saying, "If people who try to ruin others' lives do not want even a scratch on their own lives, is that acceptable?" He added, "I think I have to say this, and if they consider this defamation, they can sue me."
He continued, "This incident reveals one of the many faces of the society we live in, and I hope it serves as an opportunity for our citizens to reflect on what kind of world we are actually living in," he said.
On May 31, MBC reported that Channel A reporter A contacted former CEO Lee, who is imprisoned at Seoul Southern Detention Center on charges of financial fraud.
According to the report, reporter A conveyed to former CEO Lee that "the prosecution has launched an investigation into allegations of insider trading related to ShillaJen" and expressed a desire to meet.
Former CEO Lee arranged for reporter A to meet through an acquaintance, Mr. B. Reporter A met with Mr. B and mentioned Lee's family and asset confiscation, delivering a message that "if Yoo Si-min does not reveal his misconduct, he will face harsh investigation."
Furthermore, reporter A promised that if information about Yoo Si-min was provided, the prosecution would assist in leniency. Yoo Si-min had given a congratulatory speech at a ShillaJen technology briefing and was known to have a friendship with former CEO Lee, the largest shareholder, leading opposition parties to raise suspicions of Yoo's involvement with ShillaJen.
Meanwhile, Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae ordered the Supreme Prosecutors' Office to investigate the facts. On June 2, the Ministry of Justice sent an official letter to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office instructing them to ascertain the truth behind the alleged collusion between the Channel A reporter and the chief prosecutor.
Earlier, on June 1, the day after the MBC report, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office submitted a report to the Ministry of Justice stating that "the person on the recording tape in the MBC report is not the chief prosecutor named in the report, and the interview notes shown by the reporter are not the result of investigating that chief prosecutor," and also that "there was no phone call between reporter A and the prosecution regarding the ShillaJen investigation." However, the Ministry of Justice instructed the Supreme Prosecutors' Office to re-investigate and report back with evidence supporting these claims.
It is also known that the chief prosecutor mentioned in the report told MBC that he is not in charge of the ShillaJen case investigation and denied having any such conversations as reported.
Channel A responded to the MBC report by stating, "We secretly filmed the meeting between the source who demanded leniency from the prosecution and the Channel A reporter with a hidden camera and received secretly recorded conversations between the reporter and the source, which we then reported." They dismissed allegations of collusion with the prosecution, saying, "We suspect MBC's intention and background in obsessing over reporting unrelated to the main issue of the ShillaJen case's political connections." They added, "We want to ask whether this violates journalistic ethics," and said, "We plan to respond strictly according to legal procedures to any parts of the MBC report that are factually incorrect or distorted."
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