Former Blue House Secretary Choi Kang-wook Reported to Prosecutors for Defamation Against Channel A Reporter

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Choi Kang-wook (52), former Secretary for Public Office Discipline at the Blue House and elected as a proportional representative for the Open Democratic Party in the 21st National Assembly election, has been reported to the prosecution for allegedly spreading false information on social networking services (SNS) related to the so-called 'prosecutor-media collusion' suspicion.

The 'Action Alliance for Restoring the Rule of Law' announced on the 19th that it filed a complaint against Choi with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office for defamation under the Information and Communications Network Act.

The group pointed out that a part of Choi's Facebook post titled "Summary of Channel A reporter's remarks in letters and transcripts," posted on the 3rd, which stated, "Representative Lee, even if it is not true, say you gave money to Yoo Si-min to save yourself. Then it ends there," was false information and damaged the reputation of the Channel A reporter.

The prosecutor-media collusion suspicion is already under investigation by the prosecution.

The suspicion involves Channel A reporter Lee claiming to have used his friendship with a current chief prosecutor to coerce Lee Cheol (55), former CEO of Value Invest Korea (VIK), who is currently imprisoned, to report misconduct by Yoo Si-min, chairman of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation.

The controversy arose after letters sent by reporter Lee to former CEO Lee, a whistleblower named Ji (55) who reported the prosecutor-media collusion suspicion to MBC, and a transcript of a phone call between Ji and reporter Lee were disclosed by MBC and YouTuber Yoo Jae-il, respectively.

The Criminal Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Jung Jin-woong) is investigating the complaint filed by the Citizens' Coalition for Democratic Media (MinEonRyeon) regarding the alleged threats by reporter Lee and an 'unnamed chief prosecutor,' as well as complaints against MBC personnel and whistleblower Ji related to reports on former Deputy Prime Minister Choi Kyung-hwan's investment suspicions in SillaJen.

In this regard, Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl instructed on the 17th to "conduct an in-depth investigation into any human rights violations and illegal acts." The Supreme Prosecutors' Office announced that it plans to forward the results report of its ongoing internal investigation, which is separate from the prosecution's investigation, to the investigation team once completed.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.