Won Sei-hoon, former director of the National Intelligence Service, was called in for questioning Thursday over allegations that the state spy agency suppressed liberal artists and exerted undue influence over a public broadcaster. 


The questioning is said to have focused on allegations that Won, already jailed for meddling in the 2012 presidential election, interfered in domestic politics by blacklisting thousands of cultural figures deemed critical of the conservative Lee Myung-bak administration and disadvantaging them during his term, which was 2008-2013.

The prosecution also suspects Won pressured public broadcaster MBC to conduct a personnel reshuffle to suspend liberal officials and ban celebrities critical of the Lee administration from its programs.

Concerning the allegation, former MBC chief Kim Jae-chul was also summoned for questioning as a suspect Tuesday.

Won is serving a four years in prison for running an online smear campaign to help then-conservative presidential candidate Park Geun-hye beat liberal rival Moon Jae-in in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election. Park won the vote by a narrow margin.

Earlier this month, the prosecution filed an additional charge against Won for causing losses to state funds by allegedly spending 6.5 billion won ($6 million) of taxpayers’ money to meddle in domestic politics in favor of the Lee government.

He is also suspected of spending $2 million from the state agency’s fund for overseas intelligence operations for private purposes, including sending money to Stanford University in the US to secure a research fellow position after his retirement in 2013.

The prosecution said it will file additional charges against Won following the questioning and further investigation.

(laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)