[News Today] POLICE RAID MEDIA REGULATOR

[LEAD]
There were allegations that a chairman of a broadcast censorship commission had orchestrated complaints against a specific media outlet through family members and acquaintances. Regarding this, the Police raided the Korea Communications Standards Commission office to find the whistleblower. Media unions criticized police for intimidating public-interest whistleblowers.

[REPORT]
Police officers out on a search and seizure operation and union members of the Korea Communications Standards Commission face off.

Kim Jun-hee/ KCSC Chapter Head, Nat'l Union of Media Workers
We reported the info leak allegation to the anti-corruption commission.
Searching and probing the whistleblower is a waste of police resources.

The police raid was initiated when KCSC chair Ryu Hee-lim claimed that a news report accusing him of inciting petitions stemmed from a KCSC employee who leaked petitioners' personal information to news outlets.

Last December, Newstapa and MBC reported that Ryu had his family members file petitions with the commission over the appropriateness of an alleged fake interview between Kim Man-bae, a key figure in a land development scandal and former media workers' union leader Shin Hak-lim.

The police earlier raided the KCSC in January. After analyzing the seized materials and identifying the source of the leak, police conducted a second raid.

The media workers' union criticized the police for delaying the probe on Ryu's alleged petition instigation and speeding up only the search for the whistleblower.

Solidarity for Fair Media said it was too late to conduct a second raid eight months later in the investigation of a serious crime like a personal information leak. The journalist group called for a thorough investigation and strict punishment of those responsible.

Police say the probes on the info leak and the instigation of petitions are underway in accordance with due procedure.