Prosecutors on Wednesday raided the home of the head of online news outlet Newstapa in connection with its reporting of an alleged fake interview given in 2021 to discredit then opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk Yeol.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office sent prosecutors and investigators to the residence of Newstapa's chief, Kim Yong-jin, in the morning to seize materials related to the coverage of the interview on the eve of last year's presidential election.

The case centers on allegations that Kim Man-bae, a suspect in the scandal-ridden Daejang-dong development project pushed in the mid-2010s by opposition leader Lee Jae-myung as then mayor of Seongnam, suggested in his interview with Newstapa-affiliated journalist Shin Hak-lim in September 2021 that Yoon was the mastermind behind the Daejang-dong scandal.

The interview was reported by Newstapa and other media, beginning March 6, 2022, just three days before the presidential election, confusing voters. Kim paid 165 million won ($123,500) to Shin days after the interview. (Yonhap)