Prosecutors Summon Former Newsbus CEO for Investigation into Alleged Fake News Reports on Presidential Election

The prosecution summoned the former CEO of the internet news outlet Newsbus in connection with the presidential election interference and public opinion manipulation case.

Seoul Seocho-gu Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. / Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

The Special Investigation Team for the Presidential Election Interference and Public Opinion Manipulation Case at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Team Leader Kang Baeksin, Head of the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 1) is investigating Shin Mo, the former CEO of Newsbus, as a witness on the 22nd.

Newsbus is suspected of making false reports suggesting that President Yoon Seok-yeol, who was a leading candidate of the People Power Party around October 2021 when the Daejang-dong scandal intensified, had covered up the case of Jo Woo-hyung, a loan broker involved in Daejang-dong, while investigating the 2011 Busan Savings Bank case.

In an article dated October 21, 2021, Newsbus reported allegations that the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's Criminal Investigation Department at the time was aware of Jo's charges but did not verify them, based on a phone conversation with Lee Kang-gil, an early developer of Daejang-dong. The report also cited Jo's statements in police investigation records and interviews with Lee, alleging that the Criminal Investigation Department had even conducted account tracking around Jo and his associates but did not file charges.

Earlier, the prosecution conducted a search and seizure of the residence and other locations of Lee Jin-dong, CEO of Newsbus, on December 26 last year on suspicion of involvement in false reporting, and summoned Lee as a suspect on the 25th of last month.

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