Police to investigate KBS News wiretapping allegation

Police raided Friday the home of a KBS reporter in an investigation into the alleged wiretapping of the office of the main opposition Democratic Party chief.

Ruling Grand National Party Rep. Han Sun-kyo said the recordings of the opposition party’s supreme council meeting that he made public were obtained from the reporter.

The reporter works for KBS’s politics and foreign affairs department. His laptop computer, mobile phone and recorder were seized in the raid.

Police are known to have secured statements from Democratic Party members on June 24 that the reporter visited the Democratic Party chairman`s office shortly after the closed-door supreme council meeting.

The hard disk of the reporter’s laptop PC will be searched for a file that documented the meeting. His mobile phone records will also be analyzed to find evidence of his contact with Han.

On this, the lawmaker said, “The document drawn up by the Democratic Party was from a third person,” adding, “I didn’t get it from KBS.”

A court rejected a police request for a warrant to look into mobile phone records between Han and his aides, citing no need for an investigation. Police, however, said they will request a warrant again after obtaining more evidence.

Rep. Han will be summoned for questioning upon returning home from his trip to Europe Wednesday. Along with National Assembly Speaker Park Hee-tae, Han is visiting Baltic countries and Denmark.

Separately, KBS issued a statement Friday to express regret over the police raid, adding that it will issue a legal response.

“The raid was conducted based on groundless claims from certain political groups and suspicions raised by certain media outlets,” the state-run broadcaster said, adding, “This is an insult to the journalistic organization KBS and a serious threat to freedom of the press.”

ryu@donga.com