On May 24th, 2018, in the arrest warrant request for defamation against me regarding the “Choi Soon-sil Tablet,” then-prosecutor Hong Seong-jun at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office falsely claimed: “The NFS forensic report confirms that there was no intentional file modification, making it clear that the suspect has spread false information.” This directly contradicts the November 23rd, 2017 NFS forensic report, which explicitly stated that multiple files were modified or created after October 18th, 2016 (when JTBC took possession of the tablet), thereby compromising its integrity. 

At the court’s warrant hearing, my defense, led by attorney Seo Jung-wook, thoroughly contested the prosecution’s distortion of the NFS findings. However, Judge Lee Un-hak of the Seoul Central District Court shockingly dismissed our argument, stating, “The prosecution surely verified the evidence properly,” essentially acting as the prosecution’s advocate before approving my arrest warrant.

Even more astonishing was the first-instance trial verdict on the tablet defamation case. Over six months, I repeatedly challenged the prosecution’s falsification of the NFS report during the trial. Yet, Judge Park Ju-young falsely stated in the ruling, “The NFS forensic results conclude that there is no indication of manipulation or tampering with the tablet's contents,” thus justifying my two-year prison sentence based on fabricated evidence.

In the recent appeal trial for the tablet defamation case, judges Eom Cheol, Yang Ki-jeong, and Lee Hoon-jae reprimanded myself and the Mediawatch journalists, asking, “Do you really believe the tablet was tampered with during JTBC’s custody period?” and hastily rushed towards a verdict while rejecting the summons of key witnesses, including Shim Gyu-seon, the National Forensic Service (NFS) researcher, with no grounds. They were likely afraid that if Shim Gyu-seon, who wrote the NFS report, were to testify, all the lies from the prosecution and the court would be exposed.

Starting with the prosecution and JTBC, followed by all media outlets, including Prosecutor Hong Seong-jun, Judge Lee Un-hak, Judge Park Ju-young, and most recently, the judges Eom Cheol, Yang Ki-jeong, and Lee Hoon-jae, they all manipulated, distorted, and misinterpreted the contents of the NFS forensic report, deceiving the public into believing that the tablet was not tampered with.

The reason for their national deception is that the manipulated reports and interpretations of the NFS forensic findings were central to the core of the tablet manipulation case, and these were the decisive grounds for imprisoning me, who was trying to uncover the truth about the tablet manipulation. In other words, if the truth of the NFS forensic report were to be revealed, the falsehoods and manipulations they’ve built will collapse.

Fortunately, after seven years, the National Forensic Service confirmed in the recent civil appeal trial between Mediawatch and JTBC that “the National Forensic Service did not state that there was no intentional manipulation or alteration of the tablet.”

Of course, even before the National Forensic Service’s (NFS) recent statement, if they had simply followed the content of the previous NFS report, they would not have been able to issue a pre-arrest or two-year sentence with the false claim that ‘the NFS said there was no tablet manipulation’ against journalists who were uncovering the truth about the tablet manipulation, such as Hong Seong-jun, Lee Eon-hak, and Park Ju-young.

Furthermore, if Hong Seong-jun, Lee Eon-hak, and Park Ju-young had been able to read, at the very least, the NFS report and my summary of it, they would have been able to understand it. In other words, they manipulated the NFS report and, at the behest of a powerful behind-the-scenes force responsible for the tablet manipulation, they tried to imprison the journalists uncovering the truth and bury the facts.

Soon, with the investigation by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), the criminal masterminds behind the tablet manipulation, including Yoon Suk-yeol and Han Dong-hoon, will be caught. However, to catch the behind-the-scenes powers that involve media outlets like The JoongAng, MBC, and conglomerates such as SK Telecom, a special investigation or commission should be established. The top priority for investigation should be Hong Seong-jun, Lee Un-hak, and Park Ju-young, who manipulated the NFS report and fabricated official documents, such as arrest warrants and verdicts.

As a victim who was unjustly imprisoned for nearly a year due to you, I warn you. Your criminal acts will soon be exposed through the investigation, and you will not escape severe punishment. Before that happens, I urge you to at least acknowledge your wrongdoing concerning the NFS report and issue a public apology as human beings with basic ethics.

Moreover, I hope you will confess what you know about the organized lies and concealment orchestrated by the powers behind you who coordinated your actions related to the NFS report.