The Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office said Monday that Seoul City’s election watchdog had filed complaints to the prosecution against Kim Eo-jun and Ju Jin-woo, co-hosts of “Naneun Ggomsuda,” citing legal clauses forbidding journalists from electioneering for a candidate.

Kim is the head of progressive online journal Ddanji Ilbo and Ju a journalist at the weekly liberal newsletter Sisain.

The two were accused of violating regulations regarding the use of campaign cars and loudspeakers in the street. Photographs and recorded voice files were submitted as evidence, prosecution officials said.

They supported Kim Yong-min, one of their show’s hosts who entered the race in Seoul’s Nowon-A constituency, and Rep. Chung Dong-young of the main opposition Democratic United Party who challenged the Gangnam-B race.

“Voting for Rep. Chung is for your best interests, unless you are a conglomerate owner,” the Seoul Election Commission quoted them in the complaint as saying in a street campaign in Gangnam earlier this month.

Ju claimed that “true victory may only be achieved when Kim wins (in Nowon-A).”

Kim, however, lost in his constituency and also had a negative impact upon the entire liberal camp, after a backlash against foul remarks he made on the Internet.

Still, he pledged to continue his political satire online, only days after he said he would reflect on his flaws and remain low key.

Chung, too, lost to ruling party candidate and former free trade deal negotiator Kim Jong-hoon in the right-wing stronghold.

The election watchdog’s legal action largely reflects its determination to tolerate no exception for election law violation, as it had repeatedly warned the podcast crew to terminate its illicit campaigning.

Former left-wing lawmaker Chung Bong-ju, another host of the show, was jailed late last year for spreading false rumors about President Lee Myung-bak.



By Bae Hyun-jung
(tellme@heraldcorp.com)