"Produce X 101" PD And Chief Producer Arrested In Voting Manipulation Case

Two official arrests have been made in the police investigation into voting manipulation allegations against Mnet’s “Produce X 101.”

Earlier this week, Mnet revealed that the police had requested arrest warrants for several members of the “Produce X 101” staff. On November 4, it was reported that these individuals were CJ ENM producing director (PD) Ahn Joon Young, chief producer (CP) Kim Yong Bum, a PD named “Lee,” and Starship Entertainment’s vice president “Kim.” The police also requested that these individuals be placed under a travel ban.

On November 5, the Seoul Central District Court held a questioning session to decide whether these arrest warrants were valid.

By the same evening, News1 reported that head judge Myung Jae Kwon had made his final decision regarding the validity of the arrest warrants. Ahn Joon Young and Kim Yong Bum’s arrest warrants were deemed valid and they were placed under arrest.

The judge stated, “A large portion of the criminal charges have been explained, showing that this is an important issue. When I consider Ahn Joon Young’s role in this case and the police investigation that has taken place up until now, I acknowledge that imprisonment is both necessary and reasonable.”

Chief producer Kim Yong Bum was also placed under arrest for the same reasons. The arrest warrants for the other PD and the entertainment agency executive were dismissed. The judge ruled that these individuals had either generally acknowledged their crime or evidence had already been collected about them, and that there were no issues in the suspects’ social standing, residential status, or family status to suggest that they needed to be imprisoned for the purposes of the ongoing investigation.

These arrest warrants are also known as pretrial detention warrants. They are issued during an ongoing police investigation (that is, before the prosecution formally indicts a suspect with criminal charges) to ensure that suspects do not try to destroy evidence, flee the country, or other potential issues.

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