Prosecutor General Yoon Orders Investigation into Possible Human Rights Violations in Probe of Lee Nak-yeon's Close Aides

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol has ordered an investigation into whether there were any human rights violations, such as coercive investigation methods, during the investigation of the death of a close aide to Lee Nak-yeon, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea.

On the 4th, Prosecutor General Yoon instructed the Human Rights Supervisor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office to "thoroughly investigate and report on any violations of human rights protection investigation rules or other human rights infringements during the investigation process related to the death of a secretary in Lee's office."

Earlier, Lee's close aide, Mr. Lee, who was under investigation by the prosecution in connection with the Optimus Asset Management fund fraud case, disappeared and was found dead around 9:15 p.m. the previous day in a building near the Seoul Central District Court building. Mr. Lee had undergone a prosecution investigation on the afternoon of the 2nd with his lawyer present and was scheduled to resume the investigation after dinner, but contact was lost.

Meanwhile, Mr. Lee was reported to the Seoul Metropolitan Election Commission for violating the Political Funds Act after the issue arose that TrustAll, a company related to Optimus, paid 760,000 won for the use of a multifunction printer at Lee's Jongno-gu office from February to May.