Prosecutors: "Investigation into false reporting allegations is not 'power-watching'... Please stop misinterpretations"

In response to criticism from some quarters regarding the investigation into the 'presidential election false reporting allegations,' the prosecution on the 2nd rebutted, saying, "We hope the misunderstanding that this is an investigation to 'curry favor with power' or to 'look good' will be set aside."

Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office
Photo by Yonhap News

A representative from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said on the day, "We are investigating because a serious crime has been confirmed in a case where national suspicions have been raised." The official emphasized, "The prosecution does not work as individuals but as criminal justice enforcers," adding, "We hope there will be no misunderstandings that the investigation is conducted with hostile intent."

Regarding the criticism about fairness, pointing out that only the verification reports on President Yoon Seok-yeol among the various candidates in the presidential election were singled out as problematic, the official dismissed this by saying, "We are investigating the process of creating and spreading false frames during the Daejang-dong development corruption project," and added, "It is not because of who the subject is, but because there is a process of creating false frames regardless of the subject."

The prosecution suspects that Kim Man-bae, a former journalist turned private developer involved in the Daejang-dong case, tried to shift responsibility through the media to conceal his involvement in the development corruption, and that in this process, incorrect reports appeared from Newstapa, JTBC, Report Act, Kyunghyang Shinmun, and News Bus.

A prosecution official said, "We are not investigating by picking apart a single paragraph or section of an article," and added, "We are investigating because there are circumstances where the intent carried out within the overall flow distorts the facts." When asked about the possibility of raiding Kyunghyang Shinmun to verify the article's writing process, the official said, "It is difficult to provide detailed explanations," and mentioned, "Procedures to secure evidence are underway."

The prosecution also rebutted criticism from some quarters that listing the charge of breach of trust unrelated to the crime in the search warrants for current and former reporters of Kyunghyang Shinmun and News Bus was a 'trick' to investigate a case that cannot be directly investigated.

A prosecution official said, "This investigation is ongoing after false reporting circumstances were confirmed in a series of developments following the Kim Man-bae?Shin Hak-rim interview, and because the criminal facts are continuously listed, the court issued the warrant including the breach of trust charge," adding, "It is clear that defamation is the subject of the investigation as there is recognized direct relevance between the evidence and the parties involved."

He also explained, "Manipulating public opinion through false reports just before the presidential election is a serious crime that undermines the essential functions of a representative democracy," and added, "The investigation team understands the function and role of the media and is conducting the investigation cautiously, securing evidence to the minimum necessary extent."