A court accepted the Marine special counsel's request to conduct a pretrial witness examination of Pastor Kim Jang-hwan, chair of Far East Broadcasting, over the alleged "influence-peddling for a reprieve."
The Suwon District Court plans to hold Pastor Kim's pretrial witness examination at 10 a.m. on Nov. 3. A pretrial witness examination is a procedure that allows the court to summon a reference witness to the stand when the person does not comply with an investigative agency's request for questioning.
Earlier, in July, the special counsel conducted searches and seizures of Yoido Full Gospel Church, Far East Broadcasting, and Pastor Kim in the course of probing the alleged "influence-peddling for a reprieve." Afterward, the special counsel notified Pastor Kim multiple times of schedules for reference witness questioning, but Kim did not comply.
The alleged "influence-peddling for a reprieve" involves claims that participants in the "Dandy Marines" group chat—including Lee Jong-ho, former head of BlackPearl Invest and a key figure in the Deutsch Motors stock-rigging case—lobbied to secure an exoneration for former division commander Lim. Pastor Kim is also suspected of having contacted the side of former President Yoon to seek exoneration for former division commander Lim after the death of Corporal Chae in the line of duty in 2023.