Prosecutors on Friday requested a warrant to detain the head of the nation's broadcasting watchdog in relation to an alleged manipulation of a broadcasting license renewal evaluation held in 2020 for a right-leaning cable TV channel.

The Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office believes that Korea Communications Commission chairman Han Sang-hyuk was likely at least notified of the manipulation in advance, if not guilty of directly ordering the score change.

Prosecutors suspect the watchdog deliberately slashed the evaluation score of TV Chosun during its renewal review under the liberal Moon Jae-in administration in 2020.

Han is also suspected of being involved in the appointment of a certain member on the review panel. 

He was summoned for questioning as a suspect on Wednesday and was grilled for 14 hours. 

Two other KCC officials and the then-head of the review panel have been arrested and indicted on related charges.