Yoon Suk-yeol entered the news in Western countries when he became president of the Republic of Korea in 2022. Yoon, hailed as a conservative, took over from Moon Jae-in, a leftist politician whom many in South Korea and elsewhere felt was too cozy with North Korea. Yoon is Moon’s political opposite in that respect, so many in South Korea and other democratic countries breathed a sigh of relief when Yoon took over.
However, 2022 was not at all the year in which Yoon Suk-yeol entered the news in South Korea. That was in 2016, when he started the investigation that would lead to the impeachment and imprisonment of Moon’s predecessor, then-president Park Geun-hye. Yoon had been a public prosecutor for most of his career, in Seoul and in some regional cities, but he exploded into national consciousness when he was tasked with looking into allegations of impropriety among President Park, a prominent but shadowy figure named Choi Soon-sil, and a high-ranking member of the huge Samsung conglomerate, Lee Jae-young. At issue now—and this information is publicly available thanks almost exclusively to MediaWatch and Mr. Byun Hee-jae—is whether Yoon fabricated key evidence against Park and Choi using a tablet device that had been rigged to make Park appear guilty of sharing sensitive state information.
Even before the 2016 case, Yoon had investigated Park’s administration from its beginning, helping to undermine the credibility of her election by seeming to suggest that the National Intelligence Service in South Korea had helped Park into office. Yoon now appears, or wants to appear, to the South Korean public and to the world as a conservative, the alternative to North Korea-friendly Moon Jae-in. Mr. Byun raises serious doubts about this perception, however—doubts which deserve to be taken very seriously.
We are happy to publish this article by the South Korean investigative journlaist, Byun Hee-jae, who can only be described as the “Julian Assange” of South Korea, having been jailed for doing journalism.
A prosecutor, closely aligned with the left-wing political establishment, is accused of tampering with critical evidence in a high-profile investigation that led to the impeachment, imprisonment, and a 30-year sentence of a conservative president. In a striking twist of irony, this very prosecutor later ascended to the presidency, backed by conservative voters. Could such an improbable scenario ever unfold in real life?
This is a real and ongoing story in South Korea, involving three prominent political figures: former presidents Park Geun-hye and Moon Jae-in and the current president, Yoon Suk Yeol. The prosecutor I accuse of tampering with critical evidence is none other than President Yoon, who, as the lead prosecutor, played a pivotal role in Park Geun-hye’s impeachment investigation. My investigative journalism into this matter led to my indictment and imprisonment in 2018. Now, under Yoon’s administration, the prospect of facing imprisonment once again looms ever larger.
On October 24, 2016, South Korea’s mainstream media outlet JTBC reported the discovery of the so-called “Choi Soon-sil Tablet,” allegedly used by Choi Seo-won (formerly Choi Soon-sil), a civilian friend of then-President Park Geun-hye. The tablet was reportedly found in a former office linked to Choi. JTBC claimed that Choi had utilized the device to manipulate state affairs, as it contained over 200 confidential Blue House documents. This tablet became a central piece of evidence, fueling the narrative that Park and Choi had conspired to influence government operations and subsequently triggering a full-scale prosecution investigation.
About a month after JTBC’s exclusive report on the Choi Soon-sil Tablet, I revisited the story at the request of Park Geun-hye’s confidante, Kim Kyung-jae, president of the Free Korea Federation. According to JTBC, the only evidence linking the tablet to Choi was two photos of her on the device. If the tablet truly belonged to Choi and was regularly used by her, one would expect to see more intimate content—perhaps photos of her children, grandchildren, or even a riding ground she was known to frequent. Yet, as one might have guessed, none of this was present.
After reviewing JTBC’s report, I immediately declared that “the tablet reported by JTBC belonged to Kim Han-soo (former Blue House official), not Choi Seo-won.” Subsequently, witnesses also testified at a National Assembly hearing that Choi Seo-won was incapable of using a tablet device. These revelations fueled widespread public suspicion of tablet tampering, mainly aimed at Yoon Suk Yeol (team leader) and Han Dong-hoon (deputy team leader) of Special Prosecutor Team 4, which led the investigation into Park Geun-hye.
In response to growing doubts, the team introduced yet another device called the “Second Choi Soon-sil Tablet.” Choi’s nephew, Jang Si-ho, is said to have submitted this tablet to prosecutors to counter the claim that “Choi Soon-sil was incapable of using a tablet device.” Just four months after JTBC’s initial report and prosecutors’ introduction of the second tablet, President Park was impeached and subsequently arrested.
Meanwhile, JTBC sued me for questioning the legitimacy of their Choi Soon-sil Tablet report. On May 30, 2018, I became the first journalist in a key OECD country to be pre-detained for defamation without a trial. At that time, the chief prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office was Yoon Seok-yeol. Six months later, the prosecution sought a five-year prison sentence, and the court ultimately sentenced me to two. I served one year and was released on bail in May 2019.
During my appeal, I uncovered that the prosecution had concealed that Kim Han-soo had personally paid the bills for the Choi Soon-sil tablet from the beginning. This crucial detail undermined the claim that the tablet belonged to Choi Seo-won, and it became evident that the prosecution likely hid this information to preserve their narrative. Additionally, I discovered that the prosecution had forged a new cell phone contract for the tablet, making it seem Kim Han-soo’s company had been paying the bills automatically. This forged contract could not have been created without the prosecution’s involvement and SK Telecom, the telecommunications company in charge of the tablet’s service.
The manipulation of the “Second Choi Soon-sil Tablet” has also been widely exposed. The special prosecutors used a program called ADB to delete key data from the tablet without leaving any trace. As a result, no text messages, photos, or other crucial data remain on the device—only a portrait of one of the special prosecutors, whom I suspect is responsible for tampering with the tablet. Notably, the last four digits of the tablet’s identification number (9233) match the last four digits of Choi Seo-won’s accounting secretary, Ahn’s, cell phone number. Despite these suspicious details, the special prosecutors covered the evidence and falsely declared that the “Second Choi Soon-sil Tablet” belonged to Choi.
In early 2023, I published a book titled, I Know What They Did That Winter, which details the special prosecutors’ misconduct and bears the subtitle, Yoon Suk Yeol and Han Dong-hoon fabricated Choi Seo-won’s Tablet. I sent over five letters to then-Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon demanding answers regarding the tablet fabrication. I also organized rallies in front of his residence, urging him to come forward. Despite my efforts, both Yoon and Han have remained silent on my requests. The lack of response is particularly striking, given their aggressive crackdown against their critics since coming to power, including lawsuits against media giants like MBC and smaller independent outlets, such as New Tamsa.
For six years, I have consistently advocated for a comprehensive re-examination of the Choi Soon-sil Tablet in the lawsuit brought by JTBC, presenting evidence that the tablet had been tampered with. However, the appellate judges dedicated only a few days to this crucial examination, often delaying it, and the bench changed multiple times due to personnel shifts.
In May this year, a new judge named Um Chul was appointed to oversee my case. He has been hastily working toward a conviction by indiscriminately canceling witnesses and evidence that previous judges had accepted. Judge Um has also denied requests to record the trial proceedings, perhaps aware that his actions could be used against him in the future. Given these circumstances, I am increasingly convinced that I will face imprisonment again through a summary sentence before the end of the year.
Why does the story of South Korea’s incumbent president, who orchestrated a fabricated investigation against his predecessor, fail to shake the very core of our society? And why does the journalist striving to uncover the truth face imprisonment? The answer lies fundamentally in the entrenched factional logic of South Korean politics.
Here is the gist of the tale. Yoon Suk Yeol spearheaded the impeachment investigation and imprisonment of conservative Park Geun-hye, earning the favor of her liberal successor, President Moon Jae-in. This accomplishment propelled him to the role of Seoul Central District Prosecutor under Moon, where he conducted investigations into over 1,000 conservative intellectuals and imprisoned more than 200 to curry favor with the left-wing regime. The tide turned, however, when Yoon launched an investigation into Moon’s closest ally, Cho Kook, who was then Minister of Justice. This bold move put Yoon at odds with the administration and compelled him to realign with the conservative camp he had previously suppressed.
The narrative grows more convoluted. Park Geun-hye, wrongfully ousted from the presidency, has recently been afforded remarkable favor by President Yoon Seok-yeol, the very individual responsible for her downfall. Park even nominated her closest associate for the general election within Yoon’s party. I have been supplying Park’s team with extensive documentation regarding Yoon’s tablet manipulation, yet she remains conspicuously silent. One can only infer that Yoon treats Park exceptionally well in exchange for her complicity in obscuring his misconduct.
Lately, the Yoon administration has intensified its investigation into Moon Jae-in’s family for bribery, further widening its rift between the left. Surprisingly, Moon’s camp and the Democratic Party of Korea, while possessing the evidence of Yoon’s tablet tampering, have chosen not to publicize it. This raises a troubling question: Is Moon willing to bury the truth of Yoon’s manipulation forever, even at the risk of facing imprisonment himself?
I initially approached the tablet scandal as a mere instance of misreporting by the JTBC news organization. But I’ve come to realize that it implicates far more significant forces at play. It seems inevitable that, sooner or later, I will again face imprisonment for my commitment to uncovering the truth. As I await my sentencing, I cannot help but lament the erosion of fundamental values and freedoms in South Korea under Yoon’s administration. Can South Korea genuinely foster friendships with other liberal democratic states like the United States and Japan while our own democracy is under siege?
In the pursuit of truth, we believe that every journalist must have the freedom to publish what he or she has uncovered, so that the reading publish may be fully informed.
Featured: Rome Burning, by Hubert Robert; painted in 1785.
