On the 6th of last month, Joo Ho-young, the floor leader of the People Power Party, held a press conference at the National Assembly regarding the whistleblower information related to former Deputy Minister of Justice Kim Hak-ui. [Image source=Yonhap News]
[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] As controversy grows over procedural illegality in the process of imposing a travel ban on former Vice Minister of Justice Kim Hak-ui, the Ministry of Justice has stated that "the controversy regarding some procedures is a secondary issue."
The ministry's position is that since the Minister of Justice has the authority to impose a travel ban ex officio, the legality of the travel ban itself cannot be affected. Following a previous explanation that "it was urgent and unavoidable," the ministry has once again issued an explanation that lacks a clear clarification on procedural illegality, instead stating that "there is ultimately no problem," which is expected to further fuel the controversy.
On the 16th, the Ministry of Justice sent a notification message to reporters stating, "The controversy regarding some procedures related to the emergency travel ban imposed due to former Vice Minister Kim Hak-ui's attempt to leave the country late at night is merely a secondary controversy that does not affect the legality and appropriateness of the travel ban itself, considering that the Minister of Justice has the authority to impose a travel ban ex officio under the Immigration Control Act."
They added, "There have been precedents where the Minister of Justice imposed a travel ban ex officio without a request from investigative agencies."
Former Vice Minister Kim attempted to leave for Bangkok, Thailand, in March 2019 amid growing public calls for reinvestigation, but was stopped from boarding the plane just before departure due to an emergency travel ban imposed by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's Past Affairs Investigation Team.
However, it was revealed through a public interest report to the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission that Prosecutor Lee Gyu-won, who was dispatched to the Past Affairs Investigation Team at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office at the time, requested an emergency travel ban from the Incheon Airport Immigration Office by citing the case number (Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office 2013 Criminal Case No. 65889) of a sexual assault case in which former Vice Minister Kim was cleared in 2013. Later, in the emergency travel ban approval request submitted to the Ministry of Justice, a fake investigation number "Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office 2019 Internal Investigation No. 1" was written instead of the previously cited case number.
The case number for which Kim had already been cleared could not be used for an emergency travel ban request, and the "Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office Internal Investigation No. 1" case number was only created on May 30 of the same year, two months later, for a completely different case. This confirmed that all these documents were fabricated for the purpose of blocking former Vice Minister Kim's departure.
Moreover, Prosecutor Lee, who was dispatched as a member of the fact-finding investigation team, was only granted access to review records to assist external members and did not have the authority to investigate the "Kim Hak-ui case" itself. Therefore, it was pointed out that he had no authority to assign an investigation number or request an emergency travel ban on his own.
As the controversy grew, the Ministry of Justice explained on the 12th through a notification message that "Prosecutor Lee was appointed as 'Acting Prosecutor of Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office,' which qualifies as an 'investigative agency' with authority to conduct investigations, assign investigation numbers, and request emergency travel bans." However, frontline prosecutors generally hold the opinion that dispatched prosecutors in the investigation team do not have investigative authority, and that attaching a fake case number to request an emergency travel ban constitutes the crimes of falsifying official documents and using forged official documents.
At the time, the Ministry of Justice also added, "It was necessary to consider the urgent and unavoidable circumstances of a former high-ranking official facing serious charges attempting to flee abroad late at night," but this was criticized as an appeal to legitimacy relying on public criticism of former Vice Minister Kim without a clear explanation of the procedural illegality raised.
However, on the same day, the Ministry of Justice issued an explanation not denying Prosecutor Lee's document fabrication or claiming that his actions were legally unproblematic, but rather stating that since the minister has the authority to impose travel bans, there is ultimately no problem.
Nevertheless, whether the minister's general authority to impose travel bans can justify Prosecutor Lee's act of fabricating documents with a fake case number to impose a travel ban on former Vice Minister Kim, who was not even formally booked, remains questionable.
Park Jun-young, a retrial specialist lawyer who worked as a civilian investigator in the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Past Affairs Investigation Team in 2019 and voluntarily resigned from the fact-finding investigation team just before the problematic "illegal travel ban" was imposed, recently stated on his Facebook, "Former Vice Minister Kim was acquitted in the first trial and partially convicted in the second trial. The partially convicted charges were not an issue at the time of the travel ban," adding, "The charges were found after a thorough search by dozens of prosecutors and investigators. This was why there were criticisms that it was a separate investigation."
He further pointed out, "The claim that the handling was unavoidable for the sake of justice is an unreasonable argument considering the possibility of criminal punishment for the charges emphasized at the time of the travel ban. The court ruled all charges as not guilty or dismissed due to statute of limitations."
Recently, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office reassigned the case related to former Vice Minister Kim's travel ban, which was being investigated by the Anyang branch of Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, to the main Suwon District Prosecutors' Office and placed it under the supervision of the Anti-Corruption and Violent Crimes Division, which handles special cases. The investigation is currently underway in the Criminal Division 3, led by Chief Prosecutor Lee Jeong-seop, a former researcher of the now-defunct Central Investigation Department of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, who previously investigated and prosecuted former Vice Minister Kim's case as part of the "Kim Hak-ui Investigation Team."
Chief Prosecutor Lee previously indicted former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk and former Blue House Civil Affairs Secretary Baek Won-woo related to the "Yoo Jae-soo inspection cover-up case" while serving as head of the Criminal Division 6 at the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office last year.
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