[Sportschosun, Reporter Kim Jun-seok] A new recording has been released in connection with allegations of illegal gambling surrounding singer and actor Producer Kim Min-jong.
At a time when MC Mong had previously raised suspicions by directly naming Kim Min-jong, the newly released voice recording of chairman Cha Ga-won includes remarks to the effect that Kim Min-jong "didn't even touch the chips" at the casino, raising expectations of a backlash.
On the 18th, the YouTube channel Entertainment Chief Lee Jin-ho released a video titled "'Take Down Kim Min-jong?' Obtained Cha Ga-won's voice recording... The chilling backstory behind MC Mong's revelation."
That day, Lee Jin-ho revisited the incident from last May, when MC Mong attacked Kim Min-jong during a live broadcast.
At the time, MC Mong mentioned Kim Min-jong's name while claiming that people close to Chairman Cha Jun-young were engaging in illegal gambling worth hundreds of millions of won several times a week.
MC Mong claimed, "The Baduk members went to Japan and gave women tips of 10 million won or 20 million won each," adding, "There is one celebrity here who is receiving tips. That person is Kim Min-jong."
He also said he had related recordings and tip-off messages, and told Kim Min-jong, "Sue me for defamation. Then I will expose this message exactly as it is."
Kim Min-jong's side denied the illegal gambling allegations at the time and said it would take legal action.
Lee Jin-ho claimed that Kim Min-jong suffered significant damage after MC Mong's revelation.
According to Lee, Kim Min-jong had already been confirmed for a major film project, but was later removed from the production after MC Mong's allegations.
However, Lee Jin-ho said he had now released new material, describing it as a voice recording of Chairman Cha Ga-won. In particular, the recording included remarks on Kim Min-jong's gambling allegations that differed sharply from the earlier claims.
In the released recording, when the conversation turned to Kim Min-jong and the casino, Chairman Cha Ga-won said, "Kim Min-jong was just a visitor, so there isn't even a record."
He then added, "He didn't touch the chips. The staff member, the dealer, told me directly." He also said Kim Min-jong had merely been sitting next to Chairman Cha Jun-young.
Based on this, Lee Jin-ho argued that Chairman Cha Ga-won had already known Kim Min-jong did not take part in gambling.
The broadcast also raised questions about why MC Mong targeted Kim Min-jong in the first place.
Lee Jin-ho said the people MC Mong exposed at the time had one thing in common: they were all personally close to Chairman Cha Jun-young, the younger brother of Chairman Cha Ga-won.
He argued that after a rift developed between Chairman Cha Ga-won and Chairman Cha Jun-young, the strategy was to pressure Cha Jun-young by also going after the people around him.
To support that claim, Lee Jin-ho also released a voice recording of Chairman Cha Ga-won related to so-called "reverse viral" operations.
The recording included discussions about how to spread provocative videos about MC Mong online, along with the costs involved.
In the recording, Chairman Cha Ga-won said, "Right now, the goal of doing this is to get MC Mong to cooperate with my lawsuit."
When the discussion turned to the cost of the work and the figure of 150 million won was mentioned, he also said, "Try to lower it a bit on your own. 150 million is too much."
Actor Namkoong Min's name also came up.
In another recording released by Lee Jin-ho, Namkoong Min was mentioned while the participants were deciding on keywords for content to be posted online.
When one person in the recording said, "If we include Namkoong Min, this keyword becomes too strong," Chairman Cha Ga-won replied, "Okay."
The conversation then continued with the explanation, "There is no reason to include him since Namkoong Min is not very active."
But later in the discussion, another remark surfaced: "We decided to target Namkoong Min, MC Mong, and MC Mong's prostitution allegations." Chairman Cha Ga-won then asked, "So we decided to target Namkoong Min too?"
When the other person answered, "Yes," Chairman Cha Ga-won said, "So we decided to go after Namkoong Min."
Lee Jin-ho stressed that Namkoong Min had nothing to do with the case.
He claimed that Namkoong Min's name was added to the reverse viral keywords simply because he had purchased a luxury villa developed by Chairman Cha Jun-young.
Lee interpreted the move as an attempt to harass Chairman Cha Jun-young by targeting the developer's clients.
In the end, the key point of the broadcast was that the allegations MC Mong had previously raised about Kim Min-jong and the newly released recordings do not match.
Lee Jin-ho said Kim Min-jong had even suffered damage from being removed from a film because of MC Mong's revelation, adding, "In the end, Mr. Kim Min-jong is taking the position that he will file a criminal complaint against MC Mong."
However, the newly released recording and the background to MC Mong's allegations are based on materials and claims presented by Lee Jin-ho, and the facts are expected to become clearer depending on further statements from the parties involved.
narusi@sportschosun.com
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.
