Chief Prosecutor Han Dong-hoon Files Complaint Against KBS Reporter and Southern District Prosecutors' Office Investigators

Screenshot of KBS 9 o'clock news on the 18th.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] On the 18th, Han Dong-hoon, the chief prosecutor, filed a complaint with the prosecution against KBS personnel and investigative officials related to a KBS news report that claimed a recorded conversation between him and former Channel A reporter (currently detained) Lee Dong-jae regarding suspicions of Yoo Si-min, director of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation, being involved with SillaJen, served as the decisive evidence (smoking gun) for the detention.

On the 19th, Han’s attorney stated, “Today, we filed a complaint with the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office requesting a thorough investigation into KBS reporters and others responsible for false reporting related to KBS’s report titled ‘Yoo Si-min - General Election Related Conversation as Smoking Gun,’ as well as investigative officials who provided false investigation information to KBS, and those who maliciously disseminated the article, on charges including defamation through publications.”

Prior to the complaint submission on the same day, Han’s attorney expressed their intention to take legal action through a ‘Statement on the KBS Report.’

Han’s side rebutted, “In yesterday’s 9 o’clock news article titled ‘Yoo Si-min - General Election Related Conversation as Smoking Gun,’ it was reported that during a conversation in Busan with Lee Dong-jae, ‘the former reporter mentioned the need to investigate Director Yoo Si-min, saying that if the opposition party wins the general election, it would strengthen Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol, and Chief Prosecutor Han made encouraging remarks implying he would help,’ and that ‘Director Yoo Si-min has retired from politics,’ and ‘even if investigated, the political burden would not be significant.’ However, KBS’s report is a complete fabrication, concocted as if such a conversation actually took place, and is purely fictional.”

They continued, “The timing and content of the report are extremely malicious, and we were not contacted for confirmation before the report was aired,” emphasizing, “It must be clarified from whom they heard this false information and why such false reporting was made without verifying with the involved parties.”

The previous day, KBS reported in the 9 o’clock news under the title ‘Yoo Si-min - General Election Related Conversation as Smoking Gun’ that “the decisive ‘smoking gun’ for the detention of former reporter Lee Dong-jae was a recorded conversation between him and Chief Prosecutor Han Dong-hoon from last February.”

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