Kim Man-bae, the owner of the asset management company Hwacheon Daeyu, arrives at the Seoul Central District Court, Feb. 17, to attend a court review on his arrest warrant over a massive realty development corruption scandal. Newsis The presidential office on Tuesday condemned an interview story released days before last year's presidential election, after an investigation determined the interview was manipulated to link President Yoon Suk Yeol to a corruption scandal dogging his election rival Lee Jae-myung. The prosecution is currently investigating allegations that Shin Hak-lim, a former head of the National Union of Media Workers, received 162 million won ($122,175) from Kim Man-bae, the key suspect in the corruption-ridden apartment development project in Seongnam, south of Seoul, in exchange for reporting an interview with Kim. In the interview, Kim claimed Yoon had helped cover up a fraudulent lending scheme, through which the culprits of the development scandal are believed to have secured part of the seed money for the project that was dogging Lee, now leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea. However, the authorities have determined that the interview was manipulated. A senior presidential official issued a statement labeling the report, which appeared just three days before the voting day, as an "unprecedented election plot." "The political maneuvering, which aimed to shift the main body of the Daejang-dong case from Lee Jae-myung to Yoon Suk Yeol, is gradually being brought to light," the official said. Lee, as the candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, competed with Yoon from the People Power Party during the May 9 election. The development project in the Daejang-dong area in Seongnam was launched in 2015, when Lee was the mayor of the city. Kim and his partners, who reaped huge profits from the project, have been indicted on charges that include bribery, embezzlement and breach of trust. "The goal of the manipulation was the defeat of candidate Yoon. Such political manipulations and fake news pose the greatest threat to democracy, distorting public opinion and rendering the electoral system useless," the official said. The senior aide also criticized major TV networks for widely disseminating the allegedly concocted reports without fact-checking. Last Friday, investigators from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office raided Shin's residence and office. The search warrant stated Shin was requested by Kim to report that, in 2011, Yoon, who was then a senior prosecutor, interviewed a broker involved in the lending case and helped drop the case without charging him. Following the request, Shin, then a special correspondent for the online news outlet Newstapa, interviewed Kim in September 2021, recorded his remarks and received a wire transfer of 162 million won from him, according to the prosecution. Shin published the report on Newstapa on March 6, 2022, three days before Election Day. He claimed he received the money after selling his books to Kim. (Yonhap)
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