Former Reporter Dongjae Lee to Be Prosecuted Soon... Attention on Whether He Will Be Included as 'Han Donghoon Accomplice'

Prosecutors Expected to Discuss Indictment Details as Early as Tomorrow or the Day After

Lee Dong-jae, former Channel A reporter identified as a key suspect in the 'alleged collusion between prosecutors and media,' is attending the warrant hearing held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 17th. The reporter is accused of threatening Lee Cheol, former CEO of Value Invest Korea (VIK), during his investigation of the 'Shinrajen allegations,' saying that if he did not report suspicions of corruption involving Yoo Si-min, chairman of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation, he could face criminal disadvantages. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The prosecution is scheduled to indict Lee Dong-jae, the former Channel A reporter (35, detained), who is the key suspect in the 'media collusion' case, early this week. Attention is focused on how the indictment will include content related to Prosecutor General Han Dong-hoon (47).

On the 3rd, a prosecution official explained the internal situation, saying, "We expect the indictment decision to come out tomorrow or the day after."

Lee's detention period expires on the 5th. Accordingly, the Criminal Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Jeong Jin-ung) has reportedly been discussing the indictment contents since last week, deciding to soon bring him to trial.

The Prosecution Investigation Deliberation Committee also recommended 'indictment' for Lee, so there is little obstacle for the prosecution to bring him to trial.

However, the prosecution is reportedly struggling over whether to specify the conspiracy charges with Prosecutor General Han in Lee's indictment.

Through investigations, the prosecution has established charges of attempted coercion against Lee for allegedly threatening Lee Cheol, former CEO of Value Invest Korea (VIK), who is imprisoned on investment fraud charges, by sending letters stating that "if you do not report the misconduct of Yoo Si-min, chairman of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation, you may face criminal disadvantages." However, the prosecution has had difficulty proving conspiracy charges involving Prosecutor General Han.

Lee, suspected by the prosecution of conspiracy, maintains his claim that "there was no prior collusion," and no decisive evidence has been found.

On the 29th of last month, Chief Prosecutor Jeong even engaged in a physical altercation with Prosecutor General Han and seized Han's mobile phone USIM card, but no meaningful data was secured. The physical confrontation during the search drew strong public criticism toward the investigation team.

The Investigation Deliberation Committee, after reviewing the materials and opinion letters submitted by the investigation team, recommended 'suspension of investigation' and 'non-prosecution' for Prosecutor General Han.

In this context, including conspiracy charges against Prosecutor General Han in Lee's indictment is a challenging situation for the investigation team.

Moreover, if the indictment contents are disclosed to Prosecutor General Han's side, it would reveal the investigation team's cards, which is also a burden for the team.

Meanwhile, the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office is conducting an internal inspection regarding whether any assault occurred during the search involving Prosecutor General Han and the investigation team. On the 30th of last month, the High Prosecutors' Office summoned Prosecutor General Han for questioning and received related materials, including videos filmed on the day of the search, from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office.

Civil organizations are also continuing to file complaints. On this day, the Action Alliance for Establishing the Rule of Law (Beopse-ryeon) filed a complaint with the Supreme Prosecutors' Office against the investigation team of the 'media collusion' suspicion case for violating the Communications Privacy Protection Act and other charges.

Beopse-ryeon claimed, "The investigation team's seizure of Prosecutor General Han Dong-hoon's mobile phone USIM card, assigning a new password, and accessing the KakaoTalk account clearly constitutes wiretapping and should have been executed with a wiretapping warrant," adding, "The investigation team's actions were a highly illegal search and seizure."

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