Police Investigate Choi Kang-wook and Hwang Hee-seok's Defamation Lawsuit Filed by Former Channel A Reporter

Former Channel A Reporter Dongjae Lee Summoned and Investigated as Complainant

Choi Kang-wook, leader of the Open Democratic Party, is attending the first hearing of the second trial on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the 8th. Choi is accused of falsely issuing a confirmation letter in October 2017 stating that the son of former Minister Cho Kuk interned at his law firm, and of publicly spreading false information during the April 15 general election campaign last year by claiming that the internship activities actually took place. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] The police have launched an investigation into the case where former Channel A reporter Lee Dong-jae filed a defamation lawsuit against Choi Kang-wook, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Hwang Hee-seok, former Director of Human Rights at the Ministry of Justice.

On the 6th, the Seongdong Police Station in Seoul announced that they had summoned and completed questioning former reporter Lee in the capacity of a complainant the previous day.

Lee's side submitted a complaint to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency last November, alleging that Representative Choi and former Director Hwang defamed Lee by spreading false information on a YouTube broadcast. Considering the complainant's residence at the time, the Seoul Police Agency transferred the case to Seongdong Police Station in December of the same year.

It is known that in March 2020, Representative Choi stated on the YouTube channel Jeong Bong-ju TV that "former reporter Lee told former Value Invest Korea CEO Lee Cheol to say that he gave money to writer Yoo Si-min and officials of the Moon Jae-in administration." Former Director Hwang also reportedly claimed on the same broadcast that "former reporter Lee said that if he did not testify that he gave money to writer Yoo Si-min and others, investigations would be conducted on him or his family."

Additionally, in April last year on Kim Yong-min TV, Representative Choi said, "If you hit Chairman Yoo Si-min, the pro-Moon faction will collapse after the general election, didn't you say that?" and "We refer to the prosecution and Channel A as 'us'."

In April last year, Representative Choi posted a letter and a post titled 'Summary of Channel A reporter's remarks in the transcript' on his social media (SNS), for which he was prosecuted for defamation. The Seoul Central District Court is currently conducting the first trial.

Meanwhile, former reporter Lee was acquitted in the first trial last July on charges of attempted coercion. The prosecution appealed, and the second trial is ongoing.

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