Court: "Major charges are disputable... Restriction on suspect's right to defense"
Han Sang-hyuk, the chairman of the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) who is under suspicion regarding the TV Chosun re-approval review, avoided detention.
Lee Chang-yeol, the chief judge in charge of warrants at the Seoul Northern District Court, dismissed the arrest warrant for Chairman Han at around 12:05 a.m. on the 30th.
The judge stated the reason for dismissal, saying, "There is room for dispute regarding the main charges, and detention at this stage would excessively restrict the suspect's right to defense. Considering the extent of the evidence collected so far and the progress of the investigation, it is difficult to see a risk of evidence destruction beyond the suspect's exercise of self-defense rights."
Earlier, the 5th Criminal Division of the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Park Kyung-seop) requested an arrest warrant for Chairman Han on the 24th on charges including obstruction of official duties by deception, alleging that the TV Chosun re-approval review scores in 2020 were manipulated to be lower than the actual scores, and that this was not disclosed to the KCC standing commissioners despite knowing it.
Chairman Han appeared at the pre-arrest suspect interrogation (warrant substantive examination) held at the Seoul Northern District Court on the afternoon of the 29th and said, "The charge of ordering score modification was not even included in the warrant, and I deny the implication that I condoned the modification knowing it."
The prosecution has been investigating since last September after receiving audit materials containing suspicions that the KCC deliberately lowered TV Chosun's final evaluation score.
The prosecution believes that Yang Mo, former director of the Broadcasting Policy Bureau, and Cha Mo, former head of the Operations Support Division, who were working in the broadcasting policy department at the time, informed TV Chosun's final evaluation score and requested score sheet modifications, and that Professor Yoon Mo of Gwangju University, who chaired the review committee, colluded with them to manipulate the review results by lowering some item scores to failing grades.
In the 2020 review, TV Chosun scored a total of 653.39 points, surpassing the re-approval threshold of 650 points out of 1,000.
However, in the key review category of "public responsibility and feasibility of fairness in broadcasting, and regional, social, and cultural necessity," TV Chosun received 104.15 points out of 210, falling below 50% and thus receiving a failing grade, resulting in conditional re-approval.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
