SEOUL, July 29 — South Korean prosecutors said on Wednesday they had indicted eight people, including six business daily journalists, for allegedly manipulating stock prices and pocketing more than 9 billion won (US$6.19 million or RM25.3 million) in illicit gains, Yonhap News Agency reported.

The suspects face charges of purchasing low-volume or highly volatile stocks in advance before inflating their prices by publishing favourable news articles and then selling them.

Of the suspects, an accountant, an investor and five reporters allegedly reaped 8.55 billion won in illegal profits by writing around 1,800 articles between October 2020 and June last year. 

The reporters joined the scheme on the condition that they would receive 300,000 won per article, with three of them pocketing approximately 150 million won, 160 million won and 28 million won, respectively.

Separately, another reporter was charged with making around 740 million won through 340 articles between October 2022 and July 2024 by abusing his authority to publish articles.

“We will respond sternly to acts that disrupt the stock market,” the prosecution said, promising to track down and confiscate all criminal proceeds. — Bernama-Yonhap