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Our coverage results confirmed that the prosecution found out that Man-bae Kim, a major shareholder of Hwacheon Dae-yu, gave money and valuables to dozens of other reporters in addition to the executives of the press who handed over large checks.

In order to confirm these suspicions, the prosecution called and investigated Kim Man-bae again after 23 days.



Reporter Kang Chung-wan covered the story exclusively.



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the process of tracing the funds related to Kim Man-bae, the prosecution confirmed that Kim's funds flowed to other reporters in addition to the media executives reported by SBS yesterday (5th).



It was found that the scale reached dozens of people and that 1 million won to several million won was handed over to each person through golf entertainment.



Attorney Nam-wook stated in a prosecutor's investigation last year that "Mr. Kim Man-bae gave 1 million won to each reporter every time he played golf."



The prosecution also confirmed that Mr. Kim's funds of 100 million won in 2020 went to the Hankook Ilbo executive.



This executive explained to SBS, "I borrowed 100 million won for moving expenses, and after Mr. Kim's arrest, I paid the interest in October 2021, and the principal is due in May of this year, so the repayment process is in progress."



The prosecution summoned Mr. Kim today (6th) to inquire about the flow of money in Daejang-dong, including the suspicion of lobbying journalists.



It has been 23 days since Kim tried to make an extreme choice last month and the investigation was stopped.



[Kim Man-bae/Daejang-dong Private Business: (The story that reporters gave money keeps coming out?) …

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An official from the prosecution said, "If we do not confirm the suspicion raised, we will not leave the prosecution outside."



In the midst of this, the Hankyoreh newspaper, to which the executive-level reporter who received Kim's check of 600 million won, issued an apology, excluded the executive from his duties, and announced that it had launched its own fact-finding investigation.



The Hankook Ilbo and JoongAng Ilbo also excluded executives who had made large financial transactions with Mr. Kim from work.



(Video coverage: Lee Yong, video editing: Hwang Ji-young)