Prosecutors Secure GPS Records of Vehicle in 'Yonggu Lee Taxi Driver Assault' Case... Assault Video Also Restored

Lee Yong-gu, Deputy Minister of Justice.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The prosecution, which is reinvestigating the ‘assault allegation against taxi driver’ involving Vice Minister of Justice Lee Yong-gu, is reported to have secured the digital operation records of the taxi at the time of the incident.

According to the legal community on the 21st, the Criminal Division 5 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Dong-eon) recently obtained the GPS data of the taxi in which Vice Minister Lee was a passenger.

The data was reportedly obtained through a server that receives location and speed information every 10 seconds from all taxis registered in Seoul.

Additionally, the prosecution is said to have secured video footage showing Vice Minister Lee grabbing the taxi driver by the collar inside the taxi at the time of the incident through digital forensic analysis of the taxi driver’s mobile phone, which had already been obtained.

After analyzing the data, the prosecution will decide whether to summon Vice Minister Lee for direct questioning.

About 20 days before his appointment as Vice Minister of Justice, on the night of November 6 last year, Vice Minister Lee assaulted a taxi driver who was trying to wake him up in front of his home in Seocho-gu, Seoul, while he was intoxicated, but he was not booked, causing controversy.

At that time, the Seocho Police Station in Seoul applied the assault charge under the Criminal Act, which is a semi-official offense that cannot be prosecuted against the victim’s will, and closed the investigation because the victim did not want prosecution.

However, there were continuous criticisms that the case should have been criminally booked under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, which mandates heavy punishment regardless of the victim’s will when a driver of a moving vehicle is assaulted.