Prosecutors Summon Shin Hak-rim on the 6th for 'Kim Man-bae False Interview Tip' [Kim Man-bae Gate]

The prosecution notified former Press Cooperation Committee Chairman Shin Hak-rim, who is suspected of leaking false interview content with Hwacheon Daeyu major shareholder Kim Man-bae to Newstapa, to appear and undergo investigation on the 6th.

According to the legal community on the 6th, the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 3 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kang Baek-shin) recently notified Shin, who is accused of breach of trust and violation of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, to appear at the prosecution on that day. This means that the prosecution scheduled the summons investigation just five days after starting a forced investigation on Shin on the 1st.

Shin Hak-rim, former chairman of the Press Arbitration Commission.

It is known that Shin conveyed his intention to appear at the prosecution next week due to health reasons, so it is uncertain whether the summons investigation will actually take place on that day.

The prosecution is investigating on the grounds that in September 2021, Shin conducted an interview containing false information that Kim and then People Power Party candidate Yoon Seok-youl had suppressed the Busan Savings Bank investigation, and received 165 million won along with a request to report it just before the presidential election.

Although the interview was conducted and leaked with the intention of influencing the election, the violation of the Public Official Election Act cannot be applied due to the short six-month statute of limitations. However, the prosecution believes that breach of trust and violation of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act may be established regarding the money exchanged between the two. If false information was leaked while anticipating that it could be reported, there is also a possibility of defamation by publication.

It is known that the prosecution detected Shin's charges during the investigation of Cho Woo-hyung, the actual owner of Cheonhwa-dongin No. 6, and former journalist Bae, the actual owner of Cheonhwa-dongin No. 7, and launched an investigation. In particular, it was decisive that during the account tracing process related to the Daejang-dong case, it was confirmed that a large sum of money was handed over from Kim's side to Shin's side.

When the prosecution obtained the 'Jung Young-hak recording,' which contained evidence of the Daejang-dong gang's conspiracy, Kim persuaded Cho by saying, "I will lead the Daejang-dong suspicion in a very strange direction. Then people will follow," and added, "Don't worry because after time passes (and the presidential election ends), we can say it was not true."

After the suspicion arose, Shin explained that the 165 million won he received from Kim was the price for three copies of his 2020 book titled 'The Kinship Map Governing the Republic of Korea,' but this explanation is widely regarded as unconvincing.

The prosecution is also known to have secured testimony from the Daejang-dong gang that "Kim planned to establish a media foundation worth 10 billion won and appoint Shin Hak-rim as its chairman." Regarding this, Shin stated that he met Kim, who was a junior journalist, after searching for his phone number for 20 years, and that the plan to become chairman of a 10 billion won foundation is nonsense.

There is speculation around the prosecution that after investigating Shin, they will also investigate Newstapa, which reported Shin's tip-off without any special verification process just before the presidential election, despite his connection to the company.

Newstapa released a second statement the day before, stating, "Newstapa judged that the recording file contained important information about the Daejang-dong case, which emerged as one of the key issues during the presidential election period, and decided to report it for the public's right to know."

They added, "As explained in the first statement, Shin Hak-rim was not involved at all in this decision-making process, and the reporters included the results of their efforts to verify the facts as much as possible despite the tight schedule."

However, Newstapa stated, "Nevertheless, Newstapa overlooked the fact that Shin Hak-rim, who provided the recording file, had a long-standing friendship with Kim Man-bae, and as a result, did not suspect the possibility that the two were entangled in mutual interests," and apologized deeply to their supporters and citizens.

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