From formal charges against journalists to a special investigation team, government and PPP exert pressure on the press from all directions

“Stop the oppression” Emergency press conference by media organizations: The representatives of organizations of incumbent journalists, such as the Journalists Association of Korea and the National Union of Media Workers, hold an emergency press conference announcing their position on the coverage of Kim Man-bae’s interview at the National Union of Media Workers office in the Press Center building in Jung-gu, Seoul on September 7. They claimed that the political conspiracy of the president and the People Power Party (PPP) to use the interview as an excuse to justify their oppression of the press would be subject to the people’s judgment. On Thursday, the PPP reported to the police six reporters from Newstapa, MBC, JTBC, who covered Kim Man-bae, the owner of Hwacheon Daeyu; Shin Hak-rim, the former chair of the National Union of Media Workers; and the interview. Kim Chang-gil

The Prosecution Service formed a special investigation team after defining the alleged false interview of Kim Man-bae, a major shareholder of the asset management firm Hwacheon Daeyu, by Shin Hak-rim, former chair of the National Union of Media Workers, as an attempt to intervene in the presidential election by manipulating public opinion. The action was taken two days after the Office of the President described the interview as “a collaboration of the main culprit in the Daejang-dong case and the press union leader and an extraordinary political scheme in the presidential election.”

This was the first time the Prosecution Service formed a special investigation team in connection with press coverage since it investigated the report on the dangers of mad cow disease in U.S. beef by PD Notebook (MBC) in 2008 under the Lee Myung-bak government. The Prosecution Service hinted at its intention to investigate the media outlet that released the interview in question along with other media outlets that covered the interview and related stories. Thus, the latest measure is expected to send waves through the media circle.

On September 7, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office announced that they formed a special investigation team to handle ‘the intervention in the presidential election by manipulating public opinion.’ Gang Baek-sin, chief prosecutor of Anti-corruption Investigation Division 3, will lead the team, and nearly a dozen prosecutors from the Central District Prosecutors’ Office specializing in elections and libel will join the team.

The Prosecutors’ Office argued, “They attempted to distort public opinion by publicly releasing false information about a strong candidate right before the presidential election, which led to false reports of similar content and related accusations,” and said, “We will swiftly investigate and uncover the full story of a serious case, which took advantage of the election system--the foundation of democracy according to the Constitution.”

Shin Hak-rim is accused of releasing an interview of Kim Man-bae (bribery by breach of trust, etc.), in which Kim said, “President Yoon Suk-yeol made Cho Woo-hyeong--the owner of Cheonhwa Dongin No. 6--a cup of coffee and dropped the investigation into the allegation that Cho brokered bribes, when Yoon was the head of the Central Investigation Department 2 at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office and oversaw the Busan Savings Bank case,” in September 2021. Newstapa released Shin’s interview of Kim on March 6, 2022, three days before the twentieth presidential election.

Prosecutors believe Shin and Kim tried to manipulate public opinion by reporting false information against President Yoon, who was the People Power Party’s presidential candidate at the time, just before the election. They also think that the 165 million won that Shin received from Kim as payment for some books was in fact the price of the interview.

A representative of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said, “The Central Investigation Department in the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office conducted the main investigation, and in the process, Cho was questioned as a witness. At the time, we did not investigate the funds involved in the Daejang-dong project.” He further said, “We confirmed it (allegation of dropping the investigation) to be false.” Prosecutors suspect there were other people behind Shin’s interview of Kim.

They also said they would thoroughly examine how other media outlets reported and quoted contents similar to the Newstapa report of Kim’s interview at the time. The representative of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said, “If we see the need to identify the truth on how it led to a series of reports, then we believe we will have to verify the facts.”

In a meeting of the party’s Supreme Council in Busan on Thursday, People Power Party (PPP) leader Kim Gi-hyeon argued that the allegation of the so-called fake Daejang-dong interview, which surfaced just before the presidential election last year, was “an attempt to usurp the sovereignty of the people through collusion by politicians, businesses, prosecutors, and the press; an attempted coup ‘d’etat to destroy the democratic republic; and a crime of treason grave enough to enforce the death penalty.”

Kim also mentioned JTBC, which aired an apology on Wednesday, and called for an intensive probe as well as a thorough investigation and punishment for the people responsible. He added pressure saying, “MBC, which made over 70 reports quoting the interview, still remains silent,” and “KBS and YTN are not releasing any statement despite that they also aired reports, dancing to the tune of the people trying to manipulate the presidential election.”

The People Power Party disclosed the names of the reporters who made reports quoting the interview in question and reported them to the police on Thursday.

The government and the PPP continued to increase their attacks after a senior official from the Office of the President released a statement on the alleged interview, calling it “an extraordinary scheme to intervene in the presidential election” on September 5. On Thursday, the Korea Communications Commission announced plans to launch a fact-check verification system and conduct a survey of KBS, MBC and JTBC, after the Commission chair, Lee Dong-kwan called for the introduction of a one-strike-out policy, where media outlets will be discontinued in the case of a single report of false news.

Media organizations, such as the National Union of Media Workers, the Journalists Association of Korea, and the Korea Broadcasting Journalist Association, held a press conference Thursday and argued, “The violation of the duties and responsibilities of journalism is a problem that should be corrected through deep reflection and evaluation, but the political conspiracy of the president and the ruling People Power Party to use this issue as an excuse to bring back the authoritarian regime’s ghost of media control and to justify the oppression of the press will surely be judged by the people.”