[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] It was reported on the 13th that former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, during his time as Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs at the Blue House, requested the suspension of the investigation into Prosecutor Lee Gyu-won, who is suspected of illegally restricting the departure of former Deputy Minister of Justice Kim Hak-ui. This information was included in the indictment of Lee Seong-yoon, the head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, who was indicted the previous day.
According to the indictment, in June 2019, when the Anyang Branch of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office confirmed Prosecutor Lee's illegal restriction of former Deputy Minister Kim's departure and began an investigation, then Senior Administrative Officer Lee Gwang-cheol informed former Senior Secretary Cho of this fact. He said, "Prosecutor Lee Gyu-won is about to study abroad soon, but it seems the prosecution dislikes him," and requested, "Please tell the prosecution to allow Prosecutor Lee to leave the country without being investigated." Former Senior Secretary Cho relayed this information directly to Yoon Dae-jin, then Director of the Prosecutor's Office at the Ministry of Justice, and it is said that the so-called 'investigation pressure' proceeded thereafter. However, former Minister Cho stated through social media (SNS) that "I never pressured or instructed the investigation related to the former Deputy Minister Kim Hak-ui case."
The indictment also described circumstances where then Minister of Justice Park Sang-ki strongly reprimanded Director Yoon Dae-jin regarding the unauthorized inquiry into former Deputy Minister Kim's immigration information, saying, "If you investigate the employees who did this on my orders, does that mean you will investigate me as well?" and "Does the prosecution still investigate in such a manner?" Former Minister Park did not make any statement. The prosecution transferred the cases involving former Director Yoon and others mentioned in the indictment to the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Division (Public Officials Corruption Investigation Office) on the same day.
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