Former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, who was indicted on charges of instructing the cover-up of the inspection of Yoo Jae-su, former Deputy Mayor for Economic Affairs of Busan, is entering the courtroom to attend a trial held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 5th. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@
[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Jo] Former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, who was indicted in connection with allegations of covering up the inspection of Yoo Jae-su, former Deputy Mayor for Economic Affairs of Busan, reiterated that "the initiation, progress, and conclusion of inspections fall under the authority of the Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs."
On the morning of the 5th, Cho appeared at the second trial of this case held at the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 21 (Presiding Judge Kim Miri) and stated, "I want to clearly explain the facts related to the inspection team," emphasizing this point.
Cho refuted the charges against him with three lines of reasoning. First, he pointed out, "The Special Inspection Team under the Presidential Secretariat is neither the police nor the prosecution, so it does not have the authority to conduct compulsory investigations such as arrests or searches and seizures," adding, "There is inevitably a significant difference between the misconduct allegations that the inspection team can verify and those that investigative agencies can verify." He further stated, "The inspection team can only proceed with inspections with the consent of the inspection subject," and "Regardless of the intentions, suspicions, or wishes of the inspection team members, forced inspections against the will of the inspection subject are not permitted."
Moreover, he explained, "The initiation, progress, and conclusion of inspections on high-ranking public officials are under the authority of the Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs," and "In the case of former Deputy Mayor Yoo, despite the efforts of the inspection team members, the inspection subject refused to cooperate, rendering meaningful inspection practically impossible. Up to that point, I was informed of the confirmed misconduct allegations and multiple measures, and I decided to accept the resignation letter."
During the trial, which began at 10 a.m., Cho's legal team requested the prosecution to explain why the charge of dereliction of duty was excluded during the indictment process. Cho's defense attorney said, "Initially, when former officer Kim Tae-woo and others filed complaints, there were two charges: abuse of authority and dereliction of duty," adding, "According to the prosecution's opinion letter, it seems necessary to address the non-prosecution decision regarding dereliction of duty." The defense also requested, "It appears there are several more statements from former Special Inspection Team leader Lee In-geol, who appeared as a witness at the previous trial. For the sake of the right to defense, we would like to see those as well."
Meanwhile, Kim, who was a desk officer of the Special Inspection Team, appeared as a witness at the trial that day.
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