Prosecutors Arrest Kim Man-bae and Shin Hak-rim for 'Fake Interview on Presidential Election Manipulation'... "Risk of Flight and Evidence Tampering"

Kim Man-bae, the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, and Shin Hak-rim, former chairman of the Korean Federation of Journalists' Unions, who are suspected of conducting a false interview and exchanging money during the 20th presidential election, were arrested on the 21st.

Kim Man-bae (left), the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, who is accused of defaming President Yoon Seok-yeol through a false interview related to the Daejang-dong incident in the last presidential election, and Shin Hak-rim, former chairman of the Media Union, are heading to the courtroom to attend the warrant hearing held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the morning of the 20th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the previous day, Kim Seok-beom, the judge in charge of warrants at the Seoul Central District Court, conducted a detention hearing (pre-arrest suspect interrogation) for Kim and former Chairman Shin, and around 0:20 a.m. on the day, he issued arrest warrants requested by the prosecution for both individuals, citing "concerns over evidence destruction and flight risk."

Earlier, the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Jun-dong) filed pre-arrest warrants for Kim and former Chairman Shin on the 17th, on charges including receiving 165 million KRW in exchange for false reports related to the Busan Savings Bank investigation, disguising it as book payments (defamation under the Information and Communications Network Act, breach of trust, bribery, violation of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, violation of the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information, and extortion).

According to the prosecution, on September 15, 2021, Kim conducted an interview with former Chairman Shin, who was then a specialist at Newstapa, with the intent that "President Yoon Seok-yeol covered up the case of Jo Woo-hyung, a loan broker in Daejang-dong, when the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Central Investigation Department was investigating the Busan Savings Bank case." Newstapa reported the interview on March 6, 2022, three days before the presidential election.

It was confirmed that Kim handed over 165 million KRW to former Chairman Shin on September 20, 2021, five days after the interview. Former Chairman Shin claimed it was payment for books, but the prosecution is investigating the two on the grounds that they exchanged money as compensation for the false interview.