Kim Kwan-jung Reveals 'Channel A Incident' Timeline: "Yoon Seok-yeol Furious for Not Being Informed in Advance"

Kim Kwan-jung, Chief Prosecutor of Suwon High Prosecutors' Office / Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Regarding the so-called 'Channel A Incident,' Kim Gwanjeong, Chief Prosecutor of Suwon High Prosecutors' Office, disclosed the investigation log, stating, "The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office was from the beginning unwilling to report the investigation progress because it involved close associates of Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol."

On the 9th, when the confirmation hearing for Han Dong-hoon, the nominee for Minister of Justice, was underway, Chief Prosecutor Kim posted on the prosecution's internal network 'Eprose' that "the so-called 'Channel A Incident' will be re-discussed during Han's hearing," and uploaded the log he wrote when he was head of the Criminal Division at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office.

According to the log, then Prosecutor General and President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol was furious that the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office did not report in advance to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office about requesting search warrants for the residence of former Channel A reporter Lee Dong-jae and others, and ordered them to report the reasons for the necessity of the search and seizure.

In response, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office submitted detailed materials such as recordings of nominee Han and former reporter Lee. He ordered that the case be directed and supervised mainly by department heads under the deputy chief prosecutor of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, who was President-elect Yoon.

The log also noted that when the deputy chief prosecutor and the head of the Planning Division requested a postponement of referral to the Professional Investigation Advisory Group to Yoon, after the parties involved in the case requested the convening of the Prosecution Investigation Deliberation Committee, Yoon got angry and ordered to proceed forcefully.

Chief Prosecutor Kim also wrote that Yoon said, "Do not mention this part anymore," and "If you keep talking, it means you want me to leave." The Investigation Advisory Group was not convened as then Minister of Justice Chu Mi-ae exercised her authority to direct the investigation.

Additionally, the log contained that "After the exercise of the investigation directive authority, the head of the Criminal Division, which is the chief prosecutor's staff department, should not have taken an interest without the chief prosecutor's command authority," but "three managers belonging to the Criminal Division held their usual morning meeting, and the head of Criminal Division 1 suddenly stated that if a request for the Criminal Division's opinion came from the Investigation Deliberation Committee, they would submit it."

The mentioned head of Criminal Division 1 is Deputy Chief Prosecutor Park Young-jin, who was selected as a witness for nominee Han's confirmation hearing. Because of this, some analysts suggested that the purpose of disclosing the log was to undermine Deputy Chief Prosecutor Park's testimony at the hearing.

The 'Channel A Incident' allegation involves former Channel A reporter Lee Dong-jae approaching the side of former Value Invest Korea CEO Lee Cheol, claiming friendship with nominee Han, and coercing them to report suspicions of involvement of ruling party figures, including former Roh Moo-hyun Foundation Chairman Yoo Si-min, in the 'Shinrajen Incident.'

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