Handonghun, Dongjae Lee Acquitted in First Trial, "Choo Mi-ae, Choi Kang-wook, Lee Seong-yoon Must Be Held Accountable"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] Former Channel A reporter Lee Dong-jae, who was prosecuted on charges of attempted coercion related to the 'alleged collusion between prosecutors and media,' was acquitted in the first trial. Prosecutor Han Dong-hoon (Deputy Director of the Judicial Research and Training Institute) stated, "It is now time to hold accountable those responsible for false agitation, manipulation, and illegal use of public authority," adding, "We must hold Choo Mi-ae, Choi Kang-wook, Yoo Si-min, Lee Sung-yoon, and others accountable."

On the 16th, immediately after the verdict was announced, Prosecutor Han released a statement saying, "For the past year and a half, the ruling power, some prosecutors, pro-government media, pro-government organizations, and pro-government intellectuals mobilized a ghost-like false agitation, manipulation, and illegal abuse of public authority called 'collusion between prosecutors and media,' which has thoroughly failed," and added, "I believe this was retaliation against investigations into power corruption, such as the investigation of Cho Kuk."

He continued, "During this process, I endured two searches and seizures, abuse of authority, four rounds of personnel retaliation, and public shaming, and the Prosecutor General was suspended from duty and faced disciplinary action because of this case," and mentioned, "The no-charge decision by the Investigation Review Committee and the investigative team's opinion of no charges were ignored nine times."

In particular, Prosecutor Han stated, "We must hold accountable Choo Mi-ae, Choi Kang-wook, Hwang Hee-seok, MBC, the so-called 'Whistleblower X,' Han Sang-hyuk, the Citizens' Coalition for Democratic Media, Yoo Si-min, some KBS officials, Lee Sung-yoon, Lee Jung-hyun, Shin Sung-sik, and some prosecutors," and declared, "Necessary measures will be taken."

Prosecutor Han served as the head of the Anti-Corruption and Strong Crime Division at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office during Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl's tenure, leading the investigation into the family corruption of former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk. Afterwards, he was demoted to Deputy Chief Prosecutor at Busan High Prosecutors' Office and later transferred to a research position at the Judicial Research and Training Institute after being implicated as an accomplice in the attempted coercion charges against former reporter Lee.

Meanwhile, on the same day, Judge Hong Chang-woo of the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 1 acquitted former reporter Lee, who was prosecuted on charges of attempted coercion. Fellow junior reporter Baek, who was also prosecuted, was acquitted as well. This verdict came about one year and four months after the related allegations surfaced in March last year. Former reporter Lee is accused of sending five letters to Lee Cheol, former CEO of Value Invest Korea (VIK) and major shareholder of SillaJen, coercing him to report misconduct by Yoo Si-min, director of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation, by mentioning the possibility of an investigation into his family, but the attempt failed.