Cable Broadcasting Staff Arrested on Warrant for Extorting Money from Overseas Tycoon by Promising Article Deletion

On the 24th, the Suseo Police Station in Seoul announced that it has applied for an arrest warrant for Lee, an employee of a domestic cable broadcasting company, on charges of extortion (joint extortion) for demanding a large sum of money in exchange for deleting unfavorable articles.

Lee is suspected of having published six articles about a woman known as the second-generation heir of a Hong Kong conglomerate through a junior reporter between February and March this year, and then demanding more than 100 million won from the woman’s side to delete the articles.

The media outlet had published articles stating that the woman had been sued for fraud and had fled overseas.

The police conducted a forced investigation by raiding the media company’s headquarters in Seocho-gu on the 29th of last month.

Lee reportedly denied the charges, stating, "The articles were written based on facts after thorough investigation," and "I admit receiving advertising fees, but the woman’s side first requested the articles to be taken down and offered advertising fees."

Meanwhile, the pre-arrest detention hearing for Lee is scheduled to be held at the Seoul Central District Court on the morning of the 25th.

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