Newstapa: "I Woke Up to Find Myself Labeled a National Traitor"

Newstapa Reporter, MBC Radio Interview
"The Core Issue Is Not Coffee but Lenient Investigation"

Reporter Hansangjin of Newstapa said on the 8th regarding the suspicion of a false interview with Kim Man-bae that "I woke up to find myself labeled as a national traitor," adding, "If the reporting we have done so far is considered an act of treason, then we will just continue to be traitors going forward." Reporter Han was the one who reported the recorded conversation between Kim Man-bae and Chairman Shin Hak-rim on March 6 last year, three days before the presidential election.

On the same day, Han appeared on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' and said, "Our Newstapa has been a media outlet for about 11 years this year, and we have been running with the goal of being nonpartisan, non-affiliated, and investigative reporting. We have lived free from any political interests or such," expressing this view.

Kim is suspected of conspiring with former Chairman Shin to conduct a false interview claiming that President Yoon Seok-yeol covered up the investigation into the Busan Savings Bank case related to the Daejang-dong project. In response to these suspicions, Newstapa released the full transcript of the conversation between the two on the 7th.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The key point of this suspicion was 'coffee.' The initial report covered that Yoon Seok-yeol, who was then the head of the Central Investigation Division 2, served coffee to loan broker Jo Woo-hyung, and subsequently the case was covered up.

However, in the transcript released the day before, it was Prosecutor Park, not Yoon Seok-yeol, who appeared. In the recording, when former Chairman Shin asked Jo who had coffee with whom, Kim replied, "No, alone. Since they served it there, the staff did."

In the conversation between the two, Kim said that Prosecutor Park covered up the case, and one of the main points of this suspicion is whether Newstapa falsely reported it as if Prosecutor Yoon Seok-yeol had covered up the investigation.

When the host asked about this, Reporter Han claimed it was a "prosecutorial frame." The core of this case is whether there was a cover-up investigation regarding the Busan Savings Bank case, and he argued that the editing was done without distorting the intent of what Kim wanted to say.

Reporter Han said, "Yesterday afternoon, there was an important tea time at the prosecution, and it came from the mouth of someone like a deputy chief prosecutor. This is spreading like a plague now. I hope people understand the essence. As I mentioned earlier, the core of this case is whether there was a cover-up investigation regarding the Busan Savings Bank case or not."

Shin Hak-rim (64), former chairman of the Korean Federation of Mediaworkers' Unions, is entering the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu on the morning of the 7th to undergo questioning.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

He continued, "If Prosecutor Park covered up this case, does that mean there is no problem? He is not an independent body; right above him is then-Chief Prosecutor Yoon Seok-yeol," emphasizing, "If Park Gil-bae covered it up, can Chief Prosecutor Yoon Seok-yeol escape responsibility? If Park Gil-bae served coffee, can Chief Prosecutor Yoon Seok-yeol escape responsibility? The prosecution and the media need to answer this."

Reporter Han said, "Reporters talk for one or two hours with whoever they interview, and we edit and use the content without distorting the context and the intent of the person's statements. This is what we always do," adding, "We edited where necessary, but I do not believe we distorted what Kim Man-bae intended to say."

He also pointed out that the essence of this case is not 'Yoon Seok-yeol coffee.' Reporter Han said, "Everyone talks as if the keyword 'Yoon Seok-yeol coffee' is the essence of this case, but that is not important," and argued, "The core is whether there was a cover-up investigation related to the Daejang-dong loan case."

Reporter Han claimed, "At that time, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Central Investigation Division was investigating the Daejang-dong loan related to Busan Savings Bank, and there are several indications that suggest Yoon Seok-yeol conducted a cover-up investigation."

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