The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials(CIO) has requested former spy chief Park Jie-won should be prosecuted for spreading false information against President Yoon Suk Yeol before the March presidential election.
The anti-corruption agency on Monday said it demanded the prosecution indict Park on violation of the election law and defamation law, arguing that he falsely accused then main opposition People Power Party presidential candidate Yoon of providing favors for a former senior tax official in media interviews.
The ex-tax official, Yoon Woo-jin, who is a brother of Yoon Suk Yeol’s close aide, had faced an allegation of bribery but the prosecution dropped the case in 2015.
The CIO, however, dropped the charges against Park that he was behind a whistleblower who raised allegations of collusion between the prosecution and then opposition PPP before the 2020 general elections.
The allegations surfaced via an online media outlet, accusing a senior prosecutor at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office of having pre-written accusations against then pro-ruling Democratic Party figures delivered to the PPP as part of smear campaigns before the April 2020 elections.
Source: KBS World Radio