Prosecutors Conduct Search and Seizure of Current and Former Kyunghyang Shinmun Reporters over Alleged False Reporting in Presidential Election

Prosecutors investigating allegations of a series of false reports during the last presidential election phase have uncovered additional circumstances and launched a forced investigation on journalists on the 26th.

Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, Seocho-gu, Seoul. / Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

The Special Investigation Team of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Team Leader Kang Baek-shin, Head of Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 1) sent prosecutors and investigators to the residences of two current and former reporters of Kyunghyang Shinmun this morning to secure reporting materials on charges of defamation under the Information and Communications Network Act. The residence of a former reporter of the online media outlet Newsbus was also included in the search and seizure targets.

They are suspected of making false reports that President Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate in October 2021, had conducted a lenient investigation into Jo Woo-hyung, a loan broker involved in the Daejang-dong case, while investigating the Busan Savings Bank incident in 2011.