It was reported through Newstapa on March 6, 2022, three days before the presidential election, that ‘When Daejang-dong loan broker Jo Woo-hyung was being investigated by the prosecution for the Busan Savings Bank case in 2011, Chief Prosecutor Yoon Seok-yeol gave him coffee and cleared up the case.’ Regarding the interview article, suspicions arose that the then People Power Party presidential candidate (current president) Yoon Seok-yeol was accused of being the ‘body of suspicion in Daejang-dong’, and JTBC reported on the ‘suspicion of tampering with the Busan Savings Bank investigation’ about two weeks ago . (On February 21st last year), it acknowledged , “As a result of our own verification, there were omissions of important statements and some distortions in this report,” and officially apologized.
▶On the evening of the 6th, JTBC’s representative news program ‘Newsroom’ raised suspicions about ‘covering up the savings bank investigation’… He made this clear through a report titled “Confirmation of omission of important statements at the time of reporting” and said, “We will form a fact-finding committee to thoroughly investigate the cause of such a report and disclose the results transparently. First, the relevant personnel who were in the process of writing the article at the time were contacted. “We have excluded them from work, and have begun verification to see if there are any problems with other articles reported during this period. We apologize to our viewers for the distorted reporting,” he said.
JTBCRegarding the report at the time, “The chief prosecutor said that he made coffee for Jo Woo-hyung and did not ask questions about Daejang-dong. He also wrote that the chief prosecutor in this case was President Seok-yeol Yoon, who was the head of the Central Investigation Department 2 at the time. This content was published in Daejang-dong in November 2021. “It comes from the statement of Mr. Nam Wook, who was at the core of the power,” he said. “It was a statement that he heard Mr. Kim Man-bae, who introduced lawyer Park Young-soo to Mr. Woo-hyung Jo in 2011, say to Woo-hyung Jo, ‘Just have a cup of coffee and come back.’” Mr. Nam Wook. Next, Woo-hyung Jo, who came out after being investigated, said that the chief prosecutor had made him coffee, and he also said that he thought he heard from Man-bae Kim that that person was Seok-yeol Yoon, head of the Central Investigation Division 2.”
He added, “A week later, similar information was reported again, quoting Jo Woo-hyung’s close associates. The content was, ‘Mr. Jo Woo-hyung drank coffee with the chief prosecutor and then came out immediately and spoke like a hero’s story.'” He then pointed to reporter Bong Ji-wook (who left JTBC
in October of last year and moved to Newstapa), who was in charge of the report, and said, “Reporter Bong Ji-wook, who reported, said that he had appeared in the studio at the time and had an interview with Jo Woo-hyung for two hours. “
▶However, JTBC said that it heard Woohyung Jo’s position directly in October 2021, four months before reporter Bong Ji-wook wrote the article .
JTBC emphasized , “Cho Woo-hyung said, ‘The prosecutor in charge was Prosecutor Park.’ When asked, ‘Have you ever met prosecutor Yoon Seok-yeol?’, he answered ‘no.'” “But reporter Bong Ji-wook said, ‘The chief prosecutor drank coffee . ‘ He pointed out that he relayed Mr. Namwook’s statement as is, saying, “I heard Mr. Jo Woo-hyung say that he gave it to him,” and wrote in the article that “the chief prosecutor was Yoon Seok-yeol, head of the 2nd Central Investigation Division of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office at the time. “
He continued, ” The basis was Namwook’s statement from November 2021, in which he said he heard this conversation between Woohyung Jo and Manbae Kim. In addition, Woohyung Jo said, ‘The reason he was called to the Central Investigation Department of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office was not the Daejangdong incident, but the Vice Chairman of Busan Savings Bank. He also said, “It was related to suspicions of receiving bribes, etc.” He added, “However, reporter Bong Ji-wook only reflected Jo Woo-hyung’s words in the article, saying, ‘I don’t remember receiving any questions about Daejang-dong.’ “
“It has been confirmed that Reporter Bong Ji-wook also secured this statement from Jo Woo-hyung. However, it is currently difficult to determine whether Reporter Bong Ji-wook knew this content but did not reflect it in the article,” he said .
▶In the presidential candidate TV debate on February 25th last year스포츠토토, four days after the JTBC report was published, then-candidate Jae-myung Lee (current leader of the Democratic Party of Korea) asked candidate Seok-yeol Yoon, “Why did you give coffee to Woo-hyung Jo?” To which candidate Seok-yeol Yoon replied, “Why did you give coffee to Woo-hyung Jo ? ” He refuted, “I’ve never seen that person.” Then, on March 6 of that year, when the presidential election was imminent, when Newstapa’s report came out, Lee Yang-soo, the People Power Party’s chief spokesperson at the time, issued a statement saying, “It is clearly false. I want to make it clear that candidate Seok-yeol Yoon has no relationship with Man-bae Kim. He called ‘Seok-yeol’s older brother.’ “We are not in a relationship at all. Most of what Kim Man-bae said is false,” he refuted.▶Meanwhile, on this day, the People Power Party Media Policy Coordination Special Committee arrested a total of 9 people , including former reporter Kim Man-bae, former media union chairman Shin Shin-rim, reporter Bong Ji-wook, and reporters from Newstapa, KBS, and MBC, in connection with the ‘suspicion of false interview in Daejang-dong’ . It was announced that a complaint would be filed with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on the morning of the 7th on charges of defamation of President Yoon Seok-yeol.