Suspicions Raised Over "Yoon's Lax Investigation" During Last Presidential Election
Prosecutors Conclude "No Awareness of Falsity"
Investigation into "Presidential Election Interference and Public Opinion Manipulation Case" Concluded
Case Ends with Indictment of Nine Including Kim Manbae and Shin Hakrim
On May 27, prosecutors cleared both former and current reporters from Kyunghyang Shinmun of charges related to defamation of former President Yoon Suk-yeol through allegedly false reporting during the 20th presidential election. With this decision, the investigation into the "presidential election interference and public opinion manipulation case," which began in September 2023, has been concluded.
The Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (headed by Chief Prosecutor Lee Jundong) dismissed the charges against four former and current reporters at Kyunghyang Shinmun, including editorial writer Jung, for alleged violations of the Information and Communications Network Act (defamation), citing insufficient evidence in each case.
In October 2021, shortly after the Daejang-dong scandal surfaced, reports emerged alleging that Yoon Suk-yeol, then the leading People Power Party candidate, had, in 2011, as the head of the Central Investigation Division 2 at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, helped cover up the case of Jo Woohyung, a Daejang-dong loan broker, during the Busan Savings Bank investigation.
Kyunghyang Shinmun also repeatedly raised suspicions of a lax investigation, highlighting that Yoon was the lead prosecutor in the Busan Savings Bank case. Prosecutors investigated whether Kyunghyang Shinmun had concealed actual interview content with Jo and Lee Kangkil, the initial developer of Daejang-dong, and published false reports with the intent to defame Yoon.
Prosecutors suspected that, despite Jo consistently stating in interviews that "it is true that I retained lawyer Park Youngsoo (a former special prosecutor), but I was never investigated by the Central Investigation Division at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office for the Daejang-dong case, so there was no cover-up," Kyunghyang Shinmun published false reports implying that Jo's case was not properly investigated due to the relationship between lawyer Park and Yoon.
However, prosecutors concluded that, while the Kyunghyang Shinmun reports did contain factual inaccuracies, it was difficult to prove that the reporters were aware of the falsehoods or acted with intent to defame. The fact that the reporting was part of candidate verification during the presidential election period was also taken into consideration.
With this decision, the investigation into the "presidential election interference and public opinion manipulation case," for which prosecutors had formed a special investigation team and assigned more than ten prosecutors since September 2023, has been fully concluded. A prosecution official stated, "We will make every effort to maintain the prosecution in cases that are still on trial."
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