Kakao Kim Bumsoo "No illegal approval"...an appeal for bail

Kim Bum-soo, chairman of Kakao's Management Reform Committee, who was arrested and charged with manipulating stock prices during the acquisition of SM Entertainment, has asked the court to be tried without detention.

The Seoul Southern District Court held a bail hearing today (16th) for Chairman Kim, who is suspected of violating the Capital Markets Act.

Chairman Kim, who requested bail on the 10th, 80 days after his arrest, said he had attended more than hundreds of meetings but had never approved anything illegal.

Kim's lawyer also stressed that it is difficult to agree that there is a risk of destroying evidence as it has been more than a year and a half since the public investigation and trials are also underway in related cases.

However, the prosecution countered that Kim's arrest should be maintained given that the crime of trying to fix the market price at more than 120,000 won by buying SM shares in large quantities to prevent Hive from being publicly bought.

Chairman Kim was put on trial in February last year on charges of manipulating the stock price higher than the open purchase price of rival Hive of 120,000 won to acquire SM Enterprises.