[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] After some media reports claimed that Vice Minister Lee Yong-gu asked a taxi driver, whom he assaulted, to delete the black box footage, a civic group has requested the prosecution to investigate the vice minister.
The Judicial Examination Preparation Group (Sajunmo) announced on the 25th that it submitted a request for investigation to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office via the National Petition System, asking for a review of whether Vice Minister Lee is guilty of instructing evidence destruction.
Sajunmo stated, "According to media reports, the vice minister requested the victim to delete the black box footage, which is an important physical evidence in a case involving violation of the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes," adding, "Although the taxi driver did not immediately delete the black box footage at the time of the vice minister's request, the taxi driver deleted the black box footage stored on his mobile phone from the time of the accident, and it has been confirmed that the prosecution restored this footage through forensic methods."
They continued, "While destroying evidence related to one's own criminal case is not a crime, instructing others to destroy such evidence with the intent to do so is recognized as instigation under precedent," and argued, "If the vice minister's instigation influenced the taxi driver to delete the footage to some extent, then the vice minister is liable for instructing evidence destruction."
Sajunmo also submitted a request for investigation to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, asking for a review of whether the investigator in charge of the vice minister's taxi driver assault case is guilty of falsifying official documents and using them.
Sajunmo explained, "The victim's statement, suspect's statement, and the internal investigation closure report prepared by the investigator in charge of this case qualify as official documents," adding, "It has been confirmed that despite having checked the black box footage, the investigator falsely recorded in the official documents that there was no black box footage, and falsely recorded the case as a simple assault case despite it being a violation of the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes."
They further added, "It is also recognized that the investigator used these falsified official documents to report to superiors, and that this was done intentionally."
Meanwhile, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency stated the previous day, "It has been partially confirmed that Sergeant A, the investigator in charge at Seocho Police Station, checked the black box footage on November 11 last year, and we are currently investigating the facts."
The police placed Sergeant A on administrative leave and, under the direction of the National Investigation Headquarters, formed a joint fact-finding investigation team consisting of 13 members led by the head of the Seoul Police Investigation Department. The team has begun its investigation. The investigation team plans to examine the timing when Sergeant A became aware of the existence of the black box footage, and whether the Seocho Police Station team leader, section chief, and chief were informed, among other raised suspicions.
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