TV Directors Face Arrest in Bribery Case

By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter

Prosecutors will seek arrest warrants for several TV program directors on the charge of accepting kickbacks from entertainment agencies.

One of the directors is an executive producer of the hit MBC show "Sunday Sunday Night" identified only as Koh. Prosecutors disclosed only last names.

A director "Kim" of the KBS show "Happy Sunday" and Park, a chief of the KBS entertainment department, also face arrest.

Koh is believed to have taken tens of millions of won in cash and shares from Fantom Entertainment in exchange for putting its clients on his programs. Kim is also suspected of having bought shares of an entertainment firm through insider trading and receiving casino chips. Park allegedly received hundreds of millions of won through borrowed-name bank accounts.

The Seoul Central Prosecutors' Office said Tuesday that it has secured evidence of inappropriate links between the agencies and network directors since the investigation began last week.

The probe kicked off when a former KBS director early this month was arrested on charges of taking 220 million won from six entertainment agencies. He is alleged to have lost 1.7 billion won from gambling at Kangwon Land and got money from the agencies in return for favorable treatment for their clients.

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