This article was published online around lunchtime on May 3, the year before last.

The headline uses the term "feature stock."

It mentioned specific stock items and raised expectations for a rise in stock prices. In fact, after the article was published, buying pressure noticeably increased on the chart of the relevant stock, and its price went up.

Articles related to so-called "feature stocks," where stock prices or trading volumes move differently than usual, are also exposed to brokerage firms' stock trading systems, influencing investment decisions.

The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office has indicted a group of stock price manipulators, including reporters, who exploited these characteristics to engage in front-running.

They bought the stocks in advance before the articles were published and resold them afterward to reap market profits.

Authorities apprehended eight people, including a reporter and a representative of a quasi-investment advisory firm with an accounting background, A, who planned the crime. Four people, including A, were indicted and detained.

[Kim Tae-겸, Chief of Financial Investigation Division 2, Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office: The crime continued for a total period of 4 years and 8 months, yielding illicit profits totaling approximately 8.55 billion won....]

It was revealed that A handed over as much as 160 million won to individual reporters as compensation for publishing the articles, and some reporters also pocketed ill-gotten gains through individual front-running.

The total number of articles published in this manner is about 1,800.

[Seo Hyun-jae, Director of the Capital Markets Special Judicial Police Bureau, Financial Supervisory Service: For them, the article headline was not simply a part of the article, but a major instrument of the crime.]

Separately from this group, a reporter for an economic daily newspaper was also indicted and detained on charges of writing 340 favorable articles over about two years and pocketing 740 million won in illicit profits through front-running.

"Feature Stocks" Pushed Up Prices... Pockets Over 9 Billion Won, Bad Reporters (July 29, 2026, 8 News)

(Reported by Kim Gyu-ri | Produced by Lee Se-young | Camera Filming by Choi Dae-woong | Video Editing by Lee Sang-min | Design by Jang Chae-woo | Produced by SBS Digital News)