"Yoo Si-min, Who Said 'Prosecutors Viewed the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation Account,' Reported for Defamation"

Yoo Si-min, Chairman of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation. [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] Yoo Si-min, director of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation, who stated on radio programs and others that “the prosecution looked into the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation’s accounts,” has been accused of defamation by spreading false information.

The civic group Action Alliance for Establishing the Rule of Law (Beopse-ryeon) filed a complaint with the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office on the 13th against Director Yoo and an unidentified intelligence agency official for defamation by spreading false information under the Information and Communications Network Act and the Criminal Act, as well as for leaking official secrets.

In the complaint, Beopse-ryeon stated that Director Yoo damaged the honor of prosecutors belonging to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office by spreading false information that the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office or the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office had looked into the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation’s accounts.

Beopse-ryeon identified former Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office Chief Bae Seong-beom, who was the chief at the time of Yoo’s remarks, and related investigation team members from the same prosecution office, as well as former Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Anti-Corruption and Serious Crime Division Chief Han Dong-hoon, as victims.

Beopse-ryeon noted in the complaint that Director Yoo made similar remarks a total of three times.

First, on December 24 last year, Director Yoo appeared on the YouTube channel ‘Alileo’ and mentioned the possibility of a prosecution investigation related to himself, stating, “It is presumed to be the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, but I learned that they looked into the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation’s accounts. I will not disclose how I confirmed this for now, but I confirmed that the prosecution looked into the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation’s main bank accounts. It is highly likely that they also looked into my personal account and my wife’s account.” However, immediately after the broadcast, the Central District Prosecutors’ Office denied such facts and urged the cessation of baseless malicious false claims, the complaint pointed out.

Additionally, Beopse-ryeon claimed that Director Yoo’s statement on the 24th of last month on MBC Radio’s ‘Kim Jong-bae’s Focus’ that “Around late November to early December last year, it was judged highly likely that the Anti-Corruption and Serious Crime Division of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, where Han Dong-hoon was, looked into the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation’s accounts” was also false.

At that time, Director Yoo said that the reason the main bank of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation did not disclose whether financial information was provided was because a state agency requested a notification delay. However, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office responded to the foundation’s inquiry with an official document stating, “We have never tracked the accounts of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation or Director Yoo, nor have we requested a notification delay from financial institutions,” the complaint pointed out.

Furthermore, Beopse-ryeon argued that Director Yoo’s statement during a phone interview with ‘Sisa Journal’ on the 4th, in response to the question “Since the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office directly relinquished investigative authority, it has not been tracking accounts,” where he said, “The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office is the organization that commands the entire prosecution. Regardless of which district prosecutor’s office or agency made the inquiry, the information ultimately arrives at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office,” also constitutes defamation.

Beopse-ryeon included the intelligence agency official as a defendant on the grounds that if Director Yoo unofficially confirmed the notification delay request, which is an investigative secret, it constitutes the leaking of official secrets related to investigation confidentiality.