Recording of Han Dong-hoon and Lee Dong-jae 'KBS False Report' Source Prosecuted by Prosecution

Captured image from KBS 9 o'clock news broadcast on the 18th.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] The whistleblower who provided the transcript of the conversation between former Channel A reporter Dong-jae Lee and Prosecutor Han Dong-hoon, which included remarks by Yoo Si-min, chairman of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation, and comments related to the general election that became the smoking gun leading to Lee’s detention, was reported to the prosecution following the KBS 9 PM news report on the 18th.

The Action Alliance for the Restoration of the Rule of Law (Representative Lee Jong-bae) filed a complaint on the 24th with the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office against an unnamed whistleblower who provided the transcript related to the KBS report, accusing them of obstructing KBS’s business.

Before submitting the complaint, Representative Lee Jong-bae held a press conference in front of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office in Sinwol-dong, Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, stating, “On the 18th, KBS aired a report titled ‘Yoo Si-min - General Election Conversation is a Smoking Gun... Even Yoon Seok-yeol, who was negative about the investigation, is affected’ on ‘News 9,’ falsely reporting that ‘If the opposition wins the general election, Prosecutor General Yoon gains strength,’ or ‘Even if an investigation is conducted, the political burden is not significant,’ and ‘The timing of the report was discussed ahead of the general election.’”

He continued, “In response, both Prosecutor Han Dong-hoon and former reporter Lee Dong-jae strongly protested the false reports, and KBS the next day on ‘News 9’ apologized, stating, ‘KBS reporters reconstructed the situation at the time based on various sources, but we apologize for the parts of the article where unconfirmed facts were expressed definitively,’ thereby admitting that the previous day’s article was clearly erroneous.”

Representative Lee said, “The statements reported by KBS such as ‘If the opposition wins the general election, Prosecutor General Yoon gains strength,’ ‘Even if an investigation is conducted, the political burden is not significant,’ and ‘The timing of the report was discussed ahead of the general election’ are completely false and not present in the transcript. The whistleblower provided false information to the KBS reporter, causing KBS to be misled, confused, or mistaken, resulting in false broadcasting, which clearly obstructed KBS’s broadcasting operations. Therefore, the unnamed whistleblower is criminally charged with obstruction of business by deception under Article 314 of the Criminal Act.”

He emphasized, “The seriousness of this KBS false report incident goes beyond a simple mistake that can happen occasionally. The false report could influence the investigation of the so-called ‘media-prosecutor collusion’ case, which has attracted significant public attention, and could also affect the upcoming Investigation Deliberation Committee. Reporting false information to manipulate public opinion is tantamount to attempting to interfere with the investigation.”

Representative Lee added, “The whistleblower who induced such a false report is not a pure whistleblower acting for the public good but a shameless criminal who maliciously provided false information to KBS to attempt de facto interference with the investigation using KBS. Therefore, there is no reason to protect this whistleblower.”

He also stated that if KBS does not disclose the identity of the whistleblower who provided false information, KBS will be considered an accomplice and will be reported to the prosecution in the future.

On the 18th, KBS reported that the transcript of the conversation between former reporter Lee and Prosecutor Han contained evidence that the two conspired to raise suspicions about Yoo Si-min, chairman of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation, being involved in the SillaJen case.

However, when the full transcript released by former reporter Lee’s side was confirmed not to include such remarks, controversy arose, and KBS apologized the next day, admitting the report was essentially false by stating, “Unconfirmed facts were expressed definitively.”

On the 19th, Prosecutor Han filed a complaint with the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office against KBS personnel involved in the related report and investigative officials on charges including defamation by publication.

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