[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] On the 21st, the prosecution investigating the allegations of 'illegal travel ban' against former Deputy Minister of Justice Kim Hak-ui, which occurred in March 2019, began a forced investigation by raiding the Ministry of Justice and the Fair Trade Commission.
The Criminal Division 3 of Suwon District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Jeong-seop) announced that it executed a search warrant on the Ministry of Justice from the morning of the same day. The search targets reportedly included the office of the Immigration and Foreigners Policy Headquarters, which was suspected of illegally accessing former Deputy Minister Kim’s immigration records at the time of the incident.
Additionally, the prosecution conducted a raid on the Fair Trade Commission at the Government Sejong Complex in the afternoon. It is known that the prosecution is searching the Legal Advisory Office of the Fair Trade Commission, where Prosecutor Lee Gyu-won, who requested the travel ban on former Deputy Minister Kim at the time, was dispatched.
Several key officials currently holding important positions in the Ministry of Justice and prosecution, including Deputy Minister of Justice Lee Yong-gu, Seoul Central District Prosecutor General Lee Seong-yoon, and Deputy Director of the Criminal Division at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Lee Jong-geun, are involved in the illegal travel ban case against former Deputy Minister Kim.
Earlier, on the 13th, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office reassigned the case, which was under investigation by the Criminal Division 3 of the Anyang Branch of Suwon District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Je-seong), back to the main Suwon District Prosecutors' Office.
At the time, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office stated that the reason for the reassignment was "to conduct a more thorough investigation into the allegations related to the 'Kim Hak-ui travel ban case,'" but there was also analysis suggesting that suspicions of intentional delay in the investigation arose because the investigative command line at the Anyang Branch was composed of prosecutors classified as the so-called 'Lee Seong-yoon faction' within the prosecution.
Lee Geun-su, head of the Anyang Branch, served as the second deputy prosecutor at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office from February to September last year, closely assisting Prosecutor General Lee, and Deputy Chief Prosecutor Park Jin-won of the Anyang Branch also worked as head of the Investigation Division 1 at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office before being assigned to the Anyang Branch.
When reassigning the case, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office also replaced the investigative command department from the Criminal Division to the Anti-Corruption and Violence Division, which oversees special case investigations. This was based on the judgment that it was inappropriate for Lee Jong-geun, Deputy Director of the Criminal Division at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, who was involved in the post-management of the 'illegal travel ban' as a policy advisor to then Minister of Justice Park Sang-ki, to receive reports and command the investigation.
At the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, Deputy Chief Prosecutor Lee Jeong-seop, who directly investigated former Deputy Minister Kim and handled the trial as part of the 'Kim Hak-ui Investigation Team' led by Gwangju District Prosecutor General Yeo Hwan-seop, is currently in charge of the case. 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 supervision cover-up case' while serving as head of the Criminal Division 6 at the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office last year.
One day after the case was reassigned, on the 14th, the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office formed an investigative team led by Deputy Chief Prosecutor Lee to analyze related materials such as whistleblower reports.
In March 2019, when public calls for reinvestigation were rising, former Deputy Minister Kim attempted to leave for Bangkok, Thailand, but was stopped from boarding the plane by an emergency travel ban imposed by the Past Affairs Investigation Team of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office.
However, it was revealed through a whistleblower 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 time, requested the emergency travel ban at Incheon Airport Immigration Office by listing a case number that had already been cleared of charges years ago, and that then Minister of Justice Park Sang-ki and then Deputy Director of the Anti-Corruption and Violence Division Lee Seong-yoon were involved in the approval process afterward.
The emergency travel ban request submitted by Prosecutor Lee included the case number (Central District Prosecutors' Office 2013 Criminal Case No. 65889) of a sexual assault case for which former Deputy Minister Kim had already been cleared of charges in 2013 at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. Later, the emergency travel ban approval request submitted to the Ministry of Justice replaced the previously listed case number with an internal investigation number, 'Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office 2019 Internal Investigation No. 1.'
Since the case number that had already been cleared could not be used for the emergency travel ban request, and the internal investigation No. 1 of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office in 2019 was only assigned two months later on May 30 for a completely different case, it is clear that this was a fabricated case number. All of this was revealed to be document manipulation carried out primarily to prevent former Deputy Minister Kim from leaving the country.
Moreover, in the legal community, it is widely held that Prosecutor Lee, as a dispatched member of the fact-finding 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, she had no authority to assign an internal investigation number or request an emergency travel ban on her own.
Additionally, the emergency travel ban request and approval request only bore Prosecutor Lee's name without the seal of the affiliated district prosecutor, and there are suspicions that then Deputy Director Lee Seong-yoon of the Anti-Corruption and Violence Division contacted the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office to request retroactive approval by entering the internal investigation number officially, but was refused.
Former Deputy Minister Kim, who was suspected of sexual bribery and bribery, was initially cleared during the prosecution investigation process, but following the decision for reinvestigation by the Past Affairs Committee of the prosecution in 2018, the investigation resumed, and he was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison and detained in court last October.
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