Half-hearted 'Geom-eon Collusion' Investigation... Emerging Evidence of 'Kwon-eon Collusion'

Attorney Kwon Kyung-ae from Minbyun Posts and Deletes Article on "MBC Report Interference"
Political and Legal Circles React... Likely to Affect Investigation into 'Han Dong-hoon Conspiracy'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] As the prosecution's investigation into the so-called 'geom-eon yuchak' (collusion between prosecutors and media) allegations?where a reporter was accused of colluding with a chief prosecutor to threaten a source?has become a 'half-hearted' probe, suspicions of 'gwon-eon yuchak' (collusion between power and media) involving the ruling elite and the press have now ignited.

According to the legal community on the 6th, the post uploaded the day before on social media by lawyer Kwon Kyung-ae, a former member of the Lawyers for a Democratic Society (Minbyun), has acted as a catalyst, amplifying related suspicions.

Lawyer Kwon posted on Facebook that she received a message from a government official before an MBC report related to the geom-eon yuchak allegations was aired at the end of March, asking her to stop her SNS activities because a report on Chief Prosecutor Han Dong-hoon was about to be released.

Lawyer Kwon has since deleted the post. However, as the content was revealed through the media, the political and legal circles are experiencing growing repercussions. If the content posted by Lawyer Kwon is true, it could indicate government interference in MBC's geom-eon yuchak report.

The government official who called Lawyer Kwon is rumored to be Han Sang-hyuk, Chairman of the Korea Communications Commission. Chairman Han is a former director and co-representative of the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD), which filed a complaint with the prosecution accusing Chief Prosecutor Han of intimidation. Chairman Han is reported to have denied the related allegations.

However, the suspicions of gwon-eon yuchak do not seem likely to subside easily. There were related circumstances even before this.

Hwang Hee-seok, former Director of the Human Rights Bureau at the Ministry of Justice and lawyer for Ji, who is known to have leaked MBC’s report, posted a photo on Facebook on March 22nd with Choi Kang-wook, leader of the Open Democratic Party, writing, "The two of us are going into operation." Ji shared this post and photo on his own account.

On the same day, Ji met with a Channel A reporter for the last time. Due to these circumstances, suspicions have been raised that Ji, together with ruling party figures, deliberately fabricated the geom-eon yuchak content and leaked it to MBC, and related complaints have been filed.

Moreover, as the prosecution’s investigation into Chief Prosecutor Han is increasingly likely to end in failure, public attention is shifting toward the 'gwon-eon yuchak' allegations.

In the upcoming trial of former Channel A reporter Lee Dong-jae, the investigation team is expected to face a difficult situation.

The investigation team reportedly plans to conduct further investigation into whether Chief Prosecutor Han was involved in conspiracy and then amend the indictment during the trial. However, without finding decisive clues and no progress in the investigation, amending the indictment will be difficult, and it may even provoke resentment from the court.

The spread of the 'gwon-eon yuchak' allegations also signals that Chief Prosecutor Han’s counterattack is about to begin.

After the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office investigation team announced yesterday that they had indicted former reporter Lee without including conspiracy details with Chief Prosecutor Han in the indictment, Han’s side stated, "We now request a proper investigation into the MBC, so-called whistleblower X, politicians, and other operations or gwon-eon yuchak that the Central District Prosecutors’ Office has not investigated until now."

Earlier, Chief Prosecutor Han filed a complaint with the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office last month, demanding the identification of the whistleblower involved in the KBS false report, and on the 4th, he also filed a lawsuit seeking 500 million won in damages against eight people, including the head of KBS’s news department, at the Seoul Southern District Court.

In addition to Chief Prosecutor Han, the KBS Geom-eon Yuchak False Report Truth Investigation Committee filed a complaint with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office against President Jang Seung-dong and nine other officials responsible for the news report yesterday. Separately, the Media Solidarity also filed a complaint with the prosecution against six MBC executives related to the same case.

The Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office is conducting an internal investigation into Jeong Jin-woong, head of the Criminal Division 1 at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, who caused a scuffle during a search and seizure operation.

Prosecution investigations, court trials, and internal inspections are simultaneously underway amid the gwon-eon yuchak suspicions.

If the prosecution’s geom-eon yuchak investigation ends in failure and it is revealed that the true nature of the case was gwon-eon yuchak, responsibility will likely be demanded from Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae, who excluded Chief Prosecutor Han from his duties and exercised supervisory authority over Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, as well as from Lee Sung-yoon, head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, who is in the approval line.