The prosecution formed a special investigation team Thursday into allegations that a manipulated media interview was released just days before last year's presidential election in an attempt to implicate then opposition candidate Yoon Suk Yeol into a development scandal dogging his election rival, Lee Jae-myung.
The team, comprising about 10 prosecutors at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, will carry out a swift and stern investigation into allegations that false information was publicized about a leading candidate right before the election, the prosecution said.
"This is a grave case of manipulating the election system, the basis of democracy," it said.
The scandal centers on allegations that Kim Man-bae, a key suspect in the Daejang-dong development scandal, conspired with Shin Hak-lim, a journalist with the news outlet Newstapa, and released false claims through an interview that Yoon was behind the corruption scandal.
The interview story was released just three days before the March 9 presidential election in 2022.
Earlier in the day, Kim denied attempting to manipulate the interview story to influence the election, claiming he just had a private conversation with Shin without knowing that it was being recorded and would be released as an interview story.
Kim made the claims as he was discharged from the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, south of Seoul, shortly after midnight, as his six-month detention period expired and a court rejected the prosecution's request for the extension of Kim's detention.
"I wasn't aware that the personal conversation was being recorded," he said. Kim also denied allegations that he had attempted to influence the presidential election with the interview. "I am not that powerful a person."
He also defended his decision to buy three copies of Shin's book for 165 million won (US$123,500), an extremely high price that raised suspicions that the money was paid to Shin in exchange for running the interview story.
"Shin is a highly accomplished journalist, and I bought his books because I thought they had that much value," Kim said.
The journalist-turned-property developer was indicted in March in connection with the development project in the district of Daejang-dong in Seongnam, pushed for in the mid-2010s while opposition leader Lee Jae-myung served as the mayor of the city.
Also on Thursday, prosecutors brought in Shin for questioning on bribery charges after conducting a raid of his home and office last week. Prosecutors plan to grill Shin on the reasons behind the controversial interview and whether he had collaborated with Kim on the matter.
Source: Yonhap News Agency