![Rep. Park Sung-jun, floor manager for the ruling party on the National Assembly's special committee investigating allegations of politically motivated indictments under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, briefs reporters after an on-site probe at the Financial Supervisory Service in Yeouido, Seoul, on April 23, related to allegations that Ssangbangul Group suppressed a share price manipulation investigation. [Yonhap]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/08/18/rcv.YNA.20260423.PYH2026042310350001300_P1.jpg)
Prosecutors have launched a forced investigation into allegations that Ssangbangul Group manipulated its share price.
The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office's joint financial and securities crime investigation unit, led by chief prosecutor Shin Dong-hwan, dispatched prosecutors and investigators Tuesday morning to Ssangbangul Group's offices in Jung-gu, Seoul, conducting a search and seizure on suspicion of violating the Capital Markets Act.
The investigation traces back to a complaint filed in January by the Democratic Party of Korea's special committee on politically motivated indictments, which accused Ahn Bu-su, chairman of the Asia-Pacific Peace Exchange Association, former Ssangbangul chairman Kim Sung-tae and former vice chairman Bang Yong-cheol of violating the Capital Markets Act. The complaint was submitted to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office.
The Democratic Party has urged a reinvestigation, arguing that the core of the so-called Ssangbangul North Korea remittance case lies not in allegations that the group covered travel costs for President Lee Jae Myung's planned visit to North Korea during his tenure as Gyeonggi Province governor, but in the share price manipulation allegations against Ssangbangul itself.
The Supreme Prosecutors' Office assigned the complaint to the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office, which specializes in financial and securities crimes. The Southern office then asked the Korea Exchange to conduct an unfair trading analysis on around 10 stocks suspected of price manipulation related to the complaint.
Prosecutors said the Korea Exchange's review found signs of irregular trading in a significant number of the flagged stocks, prompting the full-scale investigation.
Prosecutors plan to analyze the seized materials to determine the specific circumstances behind the alleged share price inflation and whether former chairman Kim and other Ssangbangul Group figures were involved in the price manipulation.
newday@heraldcorp.com
