Prosecutors Raid Korea Communications Commission and Suwon City Hall... Investigation into 'Gyeonggi Broadcasting Allegations'

The prosecution has launched a forced investigation against the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) regarding suspicions surrounding the re-licensing of Gyeonggi Broadcasting.

The Criminal Division 5 of the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Park Kyung-seop) conducted a search and seizure on the morning of the 10th at the KCC's Broadcasting Policy Bureau and Media Diversity Policy Division within the Government Gwacheon Complex, securing work records related to the 2019 re-licensing review of Gyeonggi Broadcasting. The Suwon City Hall was also searched to verify materials related to the land use change of the Gyeonggi Broadcasting site.

The prosecution plans to verify the facts of allegations that illegal acts such as manipulation of evaluation scores occurred when Gyeonggi Broadcasting received a conditional re-licensing valid for four years in December 2019. It is also known that they are examining whether the process of Suwon City changing the broadcasting station site’s land use from neighborhood living facilities to broadcasting communication facilities after Gyeonggi Broadcasting’s closure in March 2020 was appropriate.

Gyeonggi Broadcasting, a comprehensive programming radio operator in the Gyeonggi region that launched in 1997, received a conditional re-licensing valid for four years from the KCC in 2019 and closed the following March.

Although Gyeonggi Broadcasting did not achieve the re-licensing standard score of 650 points at the time, it was re-licensed for reasons including the need to protect the listening rights in the Gyeonggi region. The KCC imposed conditions such as excluding the executive director from management and publicly recruiting a CEO within three months.

The following March, at the general shareholders' meeting, Gyeonggi Broadcasting decided to close with 99.97% shareholder approval. At that time, Gyeonggi Broadcasting issued a statement saying, "An unprecedented media crackdown led by local councils and local governments continued, causing existing budgets to be consecutively suspended and cut, resulting in a sharp decline in sales. Soon after, due to internal and external interference in management, Gyeonggi Broadcasting became a company without an owner."

Regarding the re-licensing and closure of Gyeonggi Broadcasting, suspicions arose that the aggressive questioning attitude of Gyeonggi Broadcasting reporter Kim Ye-ryeong at then-President Moon Jae-in’s 2019 New Year press conference was the trigger. Kim asked, "Why does the president not change his policy direction, and where does that confidence come from?" which drew criticism from the ruling party’s supporters.

The Citizens' Coalition for Fair Media (Gong-eon-ryeon) claimed that the objective evaluation of Gyeonggi Broadcasting at the time of re-licensing ranked 8th out of 146 broadcasting stations under review, but it received the lowest score in the evaluation reflecting the opinions of the review committee members.

Gong-eon-ryeon raised these suspicions and filed a complaint with the prosecution in October last year against KCC Chairman Han Sang-hyuk and then KCC standing commissioners Kim Chang-ryong, Heo Uk, and Pyo Cheol-su on charges of abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights.

The prosecution’s search and seizure of the KCC is the fifth since September last year. While investigating suspicions regarding TV Chosun’s license renewal, the prosecution conducted four searches and seizures at the KCC, including Chairman Han Sang-hyuk’s office, in February.

Chairman Han was indicted on the 2nd on charges including appointing a civic group member who had opposed TV Chosun as a review committee member in March 2020 and knowingly overlooking the manipulation of TV Chosun’s evaluation scores in April of the same year.

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