Police Investigate KBS PD in Defamation Case Over Lee Jae-myung 'Impersonating Prosecutor' Incident

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] On the 15th, it was reported that the police summoned and investigated PD Choi Cheol-ho, who conspired to impersonate a prosecutor with Lee Jae-myung, Senior Advisor of the Democratic Party of Korea, and later reported him for defamation and other charges.

The Anti-Corruption and Public Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency summoned PD Choi Cheol-ho, who reported Senior Advisor Lee for violations of the Public Official Election Act and defamation last month, and conducted a complainant investigation. A police official stated, "We plan to review the legal aspects to determine whether there is any charge against (the Senior Advisor)." Previously, PD Choi received a suspended sentence confirmed in the following year for conspiring with Senior Advisor Lee, who was serving as the executive chairman of the Bundang Parkview preferential sale incident countermeasure committee in 2002, to impersonate a prosecutor. Senior Advisor Lee, who was detained along with PD Choi, was fined 1.5 million won.

Senior Advisor Lee explained during his presidential candidacy in February that the related criminal record in the Central Election Commission's booklet-type candidate information disclosure material occurred "in the process of uncovering the truth and reporting the Bundang Parkview preferential sale incident for the public interest as a civic activist." He also stated, "While the candidate (Senior Advisor Lee), who was the executive chairman of the countermeasure committee for the preferential sale incident, was being interviewed by the broadcasting PD (PD Choi), he asked for and was informed of the name of the prosecutor in charge and important details of the case, but after legal disputes, it was ultimately ruled that he helped impersonate a prosecutor." In response, PD Choi held a press conference and rebutted, saying, "The materials distort the facts as if I maliciously trapped (Senior Advisor Lee)."

In March of this year, PD Choi reported Senior Advisor Lee to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office for violations of the Public Official Election Act and defamation. The case was then transferred to the Public Investigation Division 2, which is in charge of elections, and subsequently moved to the Anti-Corruption and Public Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.

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