Reporters' Money Transactions with Kim Man-bae Stir Controversy... "Possibility of Breach of Trust and Embezzlement"

Major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu, Kim Man-bae [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] As it was revealed that some journalists conducted financial transactions with Kim Man-bae, the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, cautious analyses have emerged in the legal community suggesting that "such acts could be punishable as illegal conduct."

According to the legal community on the 10th, A, an executive reporter at Hankyoreh Newspaper who was dismissed due to this incident, received a total of 900 million KRW from Kim between 2019 and 2020. It is reported that in May 2019, when he was considering applying for an apartment, he borrowed a total of 900 million KRW by check from Kim, including 300 million KRW (after deducting 10 million KRW as advance interest, 290 million KRW). He reportedly repaid 200 million KRW and explained that he conveyed his intention to repay the remaining principal and interest to Kim’s side.

A had known Kim for a long time through frequent interactions in the legal community. For this reason, A claims that it was a simple financial transaction among fellow journalists without any quid pro quo. Kim worked as a Money Today reporter until August 2021, just before the Daejang-dong scandal was extensively reported in the media.

However, the prosecution suspects that the amount A received exceeded the usual level of loans between private individuals, and since risks related to the Daejang-dong corruption allegations arose for Kim from the second half of 2021, there may have been quid pro quo in the financial transactions. At the time of the transactions, A worked as a political and social editor and issue deputy editor, and from February 2021, he served as the head of the social department. In September of the same year, when the Daejang-dong allegations began to surface, he held the position of newspaper general manager in the editorial office, giving him authority to coordinate related reports within the company.

Therefore, the legal community interprets that if A received explicit or implicit requests related to articles from Kim and exerted influence on frontline reporters to write articles favorable to the Daejang-dong group, he could be subject to the crime of breach of trust under criminal law.

Breach of trust applies when a person handling another’s affairs receives an improper request related to their duties and acquires property or financial benefits or causes a third party to acquire them. Similarly, if articles favorable to Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea and an associate of the Daejang-dong group, were written, the same judgment could be applied.

However, there is also a view that proving quid pro quo may not be easy due to a two-year time gap between the financial transactions and the period when A held the newspaper general manager position with influence over Daejang-dong-related articles. Additionally, to verify whether A actually influenced junior reporters’ coverage of the Daejang-dong case, investigations including interviews with involved parties and searches of the media company’s offices and reporters’ mobile phones would be necessary, which is also challenging.

The penalty for breach of trust is imprisonment for up to five years or a fine of up to 10 million KRW. Those who provide money or goods may also be punished under the crime of mediation of breach of trust with imprisonment of up to two years or a fine of up to 5 million KRW.

Separately, A may also face punishment for violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act (Kim Young-ran Act). Violations of this act occur when public officials, journalists, etc., regardless of job relevance, receive or request money or goods exceeding 1 million KRW per occasion or a total of 3 million KRW per fiscal year from the same person.

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