Yongjin Kim

Yongjin Kim is a co-founder of the Korea Center for Investigative Journalism (KCIJ-Newstapa), South Korea’s first nonprofit, independent newsroom dedicated to investigative reporting. He is an investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker. From the founding of Newstapa in 2013 until February 2025, Kim served for twelve years as CEO and editor-in-chief. Under his leadership, Newstapa received more than one hundred domestic and international journalism awards. Since stepping down from the CEO role in 2025, he continues to work as Newstapa’s editor for domestic and international collaborations, while also pursuing work as an author and documentary director. Before founding Newstapa, Kim was a reporter at KBS, Korea’s largest public broadcaster, where he created and led the country’s first dedicated investigative reporting unit. His investigations into corporate blacklists, corruption in the pharmaceutical industry, and offshore tax havens earned him Korea’s top journalism prizes, including the Korean Journalist Award and the Korean Broadcasting Journalist Award. Kim has participated in multiple international collaborations with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), including the Panama Papers and Pandora Papers, and he is a member of the ICIJ network. He also teaches investigative journalism at the Semyung University Graduate School of Journalism in Korea. He is the author of several books, including What They Know, What Only We Don’t (an analysis of the U.S. State Department cables released by WikiLeaks), Search and Seizure, and Pro-Japan and Forgetting. His documentary films include Search and Seizure: The Rise of Insurrection, The Media Mafia, and The Korean War You Haven’t Seen series."