Police raid media watchdog over private info leak allegations

Police leave with boxes after conducting a raid on Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) in Yangcheon District, western Seoul, on Monday. [NEWS1]

Police raided the state-run Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) on Monday in an investigation into allegations that a staffer leaked the personal information of petitioners who had filed complaints with the KCSC to media outlets.

Investigators from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's anti-corruption and public crime investigation unit conducted a search of the KCSC headquarters in Yangcheon District, western Seoul. The raid lasted over eight hours, police said.

On Dec. 27, the state media regulation agency asked the prosecution to investigate one of its own staffers suspected of leaking information about people who had filed petitions with the commission over allegations of false reporting ahead of the 2022 presidential elections.

The staffer is accused of violating the Personal Information Protection Act.

Newstapa and MBC reported recently that KCSC Chairperson Ryu Hee-lim mobilized his family and acquaintances to file petitions with the KCSC to review online news outlet Newstapa's allegedly fabricated interview in 2021 with Kim Man-bae, a key figure in the Daejang-dong land development scandal in Seongnam, Gyeonggi.

In the controversial interview from September 2021, Kim reportedly tried to frame conservative People Power Party's presidential candidate Yoon Suk Yeol as the mastermind behind the Daejang-dong scandal.

The leaked transcript of the interview was reported by several media outlets, including Newstapa and public broadcaster MBC, on March 6, 2022, days before the presidential election. The reports claimed that Yoon tried to cover up a fraudulent lending scheme during his time as a prosecutor in 2011.

Subsequent reports have said that the transcript had been tampered with and that Yoon was unrelated to the matter and also that it wasn't linked to the Daejang-dong scandal.

Both Kim and the Newstapa reporter who conducted the interview have denied any intention to influence the presidential election, claiming the interview was actually just a private conversation.

The KCSC later levied 140 million won ($106,000) in fines on four broadcasters who reported on the transcript.

In turn, MBC and Newstapa reported that of some 270 complaints filed with the KCSC last year, about 120 were complaints from acquaintances, including family members of Ryu.

The KCSC responded that it would conduct an internal investigation into how personal information about the petitioners was obtained and also requested investigative authorities to look into the case.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]