"Kim Man-bae Resolves Case Through Yoon Seok-yeol" Recording Report... Opposition Party Denies as "Clear Falsehood"

Newstapa Releases Kim Man-bae Audio File
Kim Says Broker Jo Woo-hyung, Who Arranged Busan Savings Bank Loan, Was "Let Off"
People Power Party: "Yoon Has No Ties with Kim Man-bae... Lies to Evade Investigation"

Kim Man-bae, the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu involved in the Daejang-dong scandal, is attending the warrant hearing held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on November 3 last year. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoon Seul-gi] Amid allegations of a botched investigation into Busan Savings Bank involving Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate, a recording has been released in which Kim Man-bae, the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu, mentioned that "the case was resolved through lawyer Park Young-soo and Yoon Seok-yeol, who was then a prosecutor at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's Criminal Investigation Department." This has caused a stir. In response, the People Power Party denied the claims, stating that "Kim Man-bae lied to evade investigation together with Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party's presidential candidate."

Newstapa released a recording on the 6th of a conversation lasting about 1 hour and 12 minutes between Kim and his acquaintance, former Media Union Chairman Shin Hak-rim, from last September.

The outlet reported that Kim introduced Park Young-soo, a former special prosecutor, to Yoon, who was then the head of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's Criminal Investigation Division 2, at the request of Jo Woo-hyung, known as a loan broker during the 2011 Busan Savings Bank investigation. Previously, JTBC reported that Jo had pulled 180.5 billion won in seed money for the Seongnam Daejang-dong development from Busan Savings Bank and received a commission worth billions of won in return. In the recording, Kim said, "I just introduced someone who could get things done."

Kim also mentioned Jo's prosecution investigation, saying, "Yoon Seok-yeol was like, 'Are you Jo Woo-hyung?'" and added, "Park (the lead prosecutor) gave Jo coffee, did a few things, and then let him go. So that case disappeared," and "It worked, they just let it slide."

Kim further expressed dissatisfaction that then-Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung imposed additional costs on Hwacheon Daeyu for parks and tunnel construction. Kim said, "Now that the land price went up, Mayor Lee kept adding conditions like 'Dig a tunnel,' 'Do drainage,' and so on," and "I cursed a lot. Called him a damn bastard, a son of a bitch, a communist-like bastard, and then Seongnam city council members came to tell me to stop," according to the outlet.

In response, Lee Yang-su, the chief spokesperson for the People Power Party, issued a statement denying the claims as "clear falsehoods." Lee said, "Newstapa has once again raised allegations that Yoon gave Jo a 'lenient investigation,' but this is a clear falsehood," emphasizing, "To be clear, Yoon has no acquaintance with Kim Man-bae."

He continued, "Most of what Kim Man-bae says is false," adding, "It is natural not to believe the excuses Kim Man-bae made to his acquaintance ahead of the prosecution investigation. No one will believe the lies Kim told to evade investigation together with candidate Lee."

He also cited an interview with lawyer Nam Wook, a key figure in the Daejang-dong scandal, who said he heard from Kim that there was a separate owner of Cheonhwa-dongin No. 1, arguing that "the conversations among accomplices about profit sharing are credible evidence."

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