How far will the investigation into Kim Hak-ui's illegal departure expand... Attention on the choice of the Corruption Investigation Office as Cho Kuk and Park Sang-ki make surprise appearances

Minister Park Beom-gye orders investigation into 'indictment leak'... Likely to pressure investigation team

Former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, who is accused of covering up the inspection of Yoo Jae-soo, former Deputy Mayor for Economic Affairs of Busan,

is attending the continuation trial of the case involving the cover-up of the inspection of Yoo Jae-soo, former Deputy Mayor for Economic Affairs of Busan, held on October 23 last year at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] As unexpected figures such as former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk and former Minister of Justice Park Sang-ki have emerged in the investigations into the illegal travel ban case against former Vice Minister of Justice Kim Hak-ui in March 2019 and the 'investigation interference in Kim Hak-ui's illegal travel ban' case in June of the same year, attention is focused on how far the investigations by the prosecution and the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office (HOCI) will expand.

Prosecutors Lee Gyu-won and Cha Gyu-geun Indicted, Investigations on Lee Kwang-cheol and Yoon Dae-jin Ongoing... Former Ministers Cho Kuk and Park Sang-ki Surprise Appearance in Lee Sung-yoon’s Indictment

Earlier, the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office's 'Kim Hak-ui Travel Ban Investigation Team' (led by Lee Jeong-seop, Head of Criminal Division 3) indicted former Prosecutor Lee Gyu-won of the Past Affairs Investigation Division of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office for submitting an emergency travel ban request to the Incheon Airport Immigration Office using a case number for which former Vice Minister Kim had already been cleared in March 2019, and for submitting an approval request to the Ministry of Justice with a fake investigation case number from the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office.

Also, through Ministry of Justice Immigration Inspection Department officials, from the morning of March 19 to the afternoon of March 22, 2019, over 170 times, they received reports on personal information inquiries including travel restriction information on former Vice Minister Kim, and despite knowing that the emergency travel ban request by Prosecutor Lee had legal issues, they approved it, leading to the indictment of Cha Gyu-geun, Director of the Immigration and Foreign Policy Headquarters of the Ministry of Justice.

Furthermore, Lee Kwang-cheol, who was then a senior administrative officer at the Blue House Civil Affairs Office, was investigated for involvement not only in the travel ban against former Vice Minister Kim but also in the overall suspicion of 'planned investigation.' At the same time, Lee Sung-yoon, then Head of the Anti-Corruption and Serious Crime Division of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and current Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, and Yoon Dae-jin, former Director of the Prosecutor's Office at the Ministry of Justice, were investigated for exerting external pressure on the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office Anyang Branch in June 2019 to block the investigation into the criminal charges against Prosecutor Lee and Ministry of Justice Immigration Headquarters staff.

However, when the prosecution, having received the case of Chief Prosecutor Lee again from the HOCI, indicted him on June 12 for abuse of authority and obstruction of justice, the indictment revealed circumstances suggesting that former Ministers of Justice Cho Kuk, who was the Blue House Civil Affairs Chief in June 2019, and Park Sang-ki issued instructions through former Director Yoon to the Anyang Branch leadership, including former Chief Lee Hyun-cheol and former Deputy Chief Prosecutor Bae Yong-won, which could be interpreted as external pressure to 'stop the investigation,' causing a significant stir.

Investigation Team Concludes Chief Prosecutor Lee Recognized Illegality of Travel Ban... Blocked Reports to Suwon High Prosecutor and Prosecutor General Moon Moo-il, Applied Pressure to 'Stop Investigation'

According to the publicly disclosed indictment of Chief Prosecutor Lee, on the early morning of March 23, 2019, when the illegal travel ban against former Vice Minister Kim was implemented, he called Han Chan-sik, then Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office, requesting approval for the investigation case number illegally used by Prosecutor Lee. He also ordered a subordinate prosecutor to review the legality of the emergency travel ban against former Vice Minister Kim.

In light of these circumstances, the prosecution judged that Chief Prosecutor Lee was already aware that the emergency travel ban against former Vice Minister Kim was illegally executed and took steps to cover it up. Therefore, fearing that if Prosecutor Moon Moo-il, then Prosecutor General, was fully informed and approved a formal investigation, his involvement would be exposed, he prevented the Anyang Branch, which had discovered the criminal charges against Prosecutor Lee and Immigration Headquarters staff, from reporting to the Suwon High Prosecutor or Prosecutor General Moon. He also directly called Deputy Chief Prosecutor Bae to instruct that the Anyang Branch prosecutors should not proceed with further investigation.

Chief Prosecutor Lee received a report from the Anyang Branch, which had succumbed to the pressure, stating that all suspects related to the leak of travel ban information on former Vice Minister Kim would be non-prosecuted. Later, concerned that his instruction to block the report and stop the investigation might become problematic, he ordered Senior Research Officer Moon Hong-seong of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Anti-Corruption Division to include the emergency travel ban-related content in the Anyang Branch's report to make it appear as if the branch had independently decided to stop the investigation. However, the Anyang Branch registered both the original and the revised reports on the Criminal Justice Portal (KICS) to keep a record of these facts.

In conclusion, the prosecution's charge of abuse of authority and obstruction of justice against Chief Prosecutor Lee involves abusing his position and authority as head of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Anti-Corruption and Serious Crime Division to: ▲ prevent Chief Lee Hyun-cheol of the Anyang Branch from reporting the discovery of Prosecutor Lee's criminal charges to the Suwon High Prosecutor and Prosecutor General, contrary to relevant guidelines; ▲ block the Anyang Branch investigation team prosecutors from investigating Prosecutor Lee and Immigration Headquarters staff through the branch leadership including Chief Lee Hyun-cheol and Deputy Chief Prosecutor Bae Yong-won; and ▲ force the submission of a final investigation report against the will of the Anyang Branch investigation team prosecutors.

The day after indicting Chief Prosecutor Lee, on June 13, the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office transferred the cases of former Director Yoon Dae-jin of the Ministry of Justice Prosecutor's Office, former Chief Lee Hyun-cheol, and former Deputy Chief Prosecutor Bae Yong-won of the Anyang Branch to the HOCI.

According to Article 25, Paragraph 2 of the HOCI Act, when another investigative agency discovers criminal charges against high-ranking officials, the three individuals can be considered suspects. However, former Chief Lee Hyun-cheol and former Deputy Chief Prosecutor Bae Yong-won are also victims of Chief Prosecutor Lee's abuse of authority and obstruction of justice. Nevertheless, under criminal law, there is no obligation to obey illegal orders from superiors, so even acts performed under such orders do not negate illegality.

Investigation Interference on Prosecutor Lee by Cho Kuk, on Immigration Headquarters Staff by Park Sang-ki

Meanwhile, Chief Prosecutor Lee's indictment also contains evidence that former Director Yoon Dae-jin of the Ministry of Justice Prosecutor's Office persistently pressured the Anyang Branch.

Besides the pressure exerted by Chief Prosecutor Lee after receiving investigation reports from the Anyang Branch, similar pressure was applied through another route around the same time.

According to the indictment, these pressures were exerted separately on the investigation of Prosecutor Lee, who directly executed the illegal travel ban, and on the investigation of Immigration Headquarters staff who accessed travel-related information of former Vice Minister Kim. The starting points were Prosecutor Lee himself and the investigated Immigration Headquarters staff, with former Ministers Cho Kuk and Park Sang-ki at the top. The common channel used by the two former ministers to request the investigation team to stop the investigation was former Director Yoon.

First, the pressure to stop the investigation on Prosecutor Lee originated from Prosecutor Lee learning from an Anyang Branch investigator, with whom he had a friendly relationship from working together at the Past Affairs Investigation Division, that the Anyang Branch was investigating him.

Prosecutor Lee informed Lee Kwang-cheol, then Senior Administrative Officer, who was a close acquaintance from the Judicial Research and Training Institute and working at the same law firm. Lee Kwang-cheol then conveyed this to Cho Kuk, then Chief of the Blue House Civil Affairs Office, saying, "Prosecutor Lee Gyu-won is about to study abroad soon, but it seems the prosecution dislikes him. Please talk to the prosecution so that Prosecutor Lee can leave the country without being investigated."

Cho Kuk then passed this request as is to former Director Yoon Dae-jin. This request was conveyed through Yoon to former Chief Lee Hyun-cheol of the Anyang Branch. Subsequently, Chief Lee reversed his earlier approval of the investigation on Prosecutor Lee and instructed Deputy Chief Bae Yong-won and the responsible chief prosecutor, "The Supreme Prosecutors' Office and Ministry of Justice are pushing this hard; what can we do? Under the current circumstances, stop reporting to the Prosecutor General or Suwon High Prosecutor, and halt the indictment and further investigation of Prosecutor Lee. Prioritize investigating only the parts requested by the Ministry of Justice (leak of travel ban information related to former Vice Minister Kim)."

Following persistent requests from Chief Lee and Deputy Chief Bae to stop the investigation, the investigation team was ultimately unable to proceed with further investigation related to Prosecutor Lee. During the process of investigating Immigration Headquarters staff for the Ministry of Justice's requested case (how former Vice Minister Kim learned he was not yet subject to a travel ban), they conducted interviews to confirm: ▲ the reason for unauthorized access to former Vice Minister Kim's travel information; ▲ under whose instruction the inquiries were made; and ▲ whether accessing the travel information violated the Personal Information Protection Act.

An Immigration Headquarters staff member, sensing that the prosecution was expanding the investigation in a direction different from the Ministry of Justice's original intent after recognizing the illegality of the emergency travel ban process against former Vice Minister Kim, reported the situation to their superior. The superior immediately contacted Director Cha Gyu-geun, informing him of the Anyang Branch's investigation details and situation.

Director Cha then called former Minister of Justice Park Sang-ki, reporting that "the Anyang Branch is investigating issues with Immigration Headquarters staff beyond the originally requested criminal charges related to former Vice Minister Kim's emergency travel ban," and that "the Anyang Branch is attempting to confiscate the staff's mobile phones and prevent them from leaving." The prosecution states that the reports of phone confiscation and preventing staff from leaving are false. They believe Director Cha urgently reported the investigation situation to Minister Park because he feared the illegal emergency travel ban measures by Immigration Headquarters would be exposed.

According to the prosecution's findings, Minister Park immediately summoned former Director Yoon and scolded him, saying, "If I order an investigation into what the staff did, does that mean I will be investigated too? Does the prosecution still conduct investigations in such a manner?" He then ordered an inquiry into the circumstances.

Director Yoon immediately called former Chief Lee Hyun-cheol, saying, "The Ministry of Justice and Supreme Prosecutors' Office agreed to have Prosecutor Lee impose the travel ban, so why are you continuing to investigate Immigration Headquarters staff about the situation at the time of the travel ban? The minister was very angry and asked me to stop it, so I barely managed to block it," reprimanding him.

The Ministry of Justice also requested Senior Research Officer Moon Hong-seong of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Anti-Corruption Division to investigate the background and details of the investigation into Immigration Headquarters staff. After receiving the Ministry's request, then Head of the Anti-Corruption and Serious Crime Division Lee Sung-yoon ordered Moon to ascertain the actual circumstances. Moon instructed Deputy Chief Prosecutor Bae Yong-won of the Anyang Branch to prepare a report, and the responsible chief prosecutor submitted an investigation report accordingly.

Thus, after successive pressures from Chief Prosecutor Lee and former Director Yoon, the Anyang Branch ultimately chose to stop the investigation.

HOCI Faces Difficult Dilemma... Criticism Whether They Investigate Directly or Not

On June 13, the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office transferred the cases of former Director Yoon Dae-jin, former Chief Lee Hyun-cheol, and former Deputy Chief Prosecutor Bae Yong-won to the HOCI.

The HOCI now faces the choice of whether to investigate these cases directly or re-transfer them to the prosecution.

It is clear that the HOCI currently lacks sufficient investigative capacity. Although the HOCI can appoint up to 23 prosecutors excluding the director and deputy director, only 13 have been appointed so far.

The Investigation Division 2, which already includes five prosecutors such as Chief Prosecutor Kim Seong-moon, has designated the illegal preferential hiring allegations against Seoul Mayor Cho Hee-yeon as its 'first case' and started investigations. Investigation Division 3 has only three prosecutors excluding Acting Chief Prosecutor Choi Seok-gyu, and Investigation Division 1 remains vacant without any prosecutors assigned.

With a shortage of prosecutors and only four of the 13 having investigative experience from the prosecution, six prosecutors are scheduled to undergo a four-week practical training at the Judicial Research and Training Institute in Yongin starting at the end of this month.

Even if the remaining investigative personnel conduct direct investigations, they will inevitably face difficult decisions on how far to expand the scope. Although the prosecution transferred the cases of former Director Yoon, former Chief Lee, and former Deputy Chief Bae, the reason former Director Yoon requested the Anyang Branch to stop investigations into Prosecutor Lee and Immigration Headquarters staff was due to instructions from former Ministers Cho Kuk and Park Sang-ki, respectively.

Ultimately, if the HOCI chooses to investigate directly, it will have to consider how to legally assess the instructions from the two former ministers. Even if former Minister Cho merely relayed the request from Senior Administrative Officer Lee Kwang-cheol, his position as Chief of the Blue House Civil Affairs Office overseeing the prosecution and investigative agencies at the time means there is sufficient ground to view his interference as exerting pressure on a prosecution investigation into clear illegality. Similarly, former Minister Park's reprimand of the investigation into Immigration Headquarters staff, saying "Are you going to investigate me too?" and ordering a review of the circumstances likely exerted pressure on the investigation team.

It is currently difficult to predict whether the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, which transferred the three individuals to the HOCI, is conducting additional investigations into former Ministers Cho and Park or whether their cases will also be transferred to the HOCI in the future.

However, if the HOCI investigates former Director Yoon and others, it will likely have to investigate former Ministers Cho and Park, who gave instructions to Yoon. This situation imposes a significant burden on the HOCI, which faced criticism from the ruling party for selecting the Cho Hee-yeon case as its 'first case.'

On the other hand, the HOCI also faces difficulty in re-transferring the cases to the prosecution. Previously, when the HOCI re-transferred the cases of Chief Prosecutor Lee and Prosecutor Lee to the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, it insisted on a 'prosecution authority reservation transfer,' requesting the prosecution to complete the investigation so the HOCI could decide on prosecution. However, the prosecution rejected this as an unprecedented and absurd logic and directly indicted the two individuals.

After Prosecutor Lee was indicted by the prosecution, the HOCI formally established and promulgated the 'HOCI Case Handling Rules,' explicitly including the 'prosecution authority reservation transfer.' However, the prosecution does not recognize the validity of this rule, claiming it exceeds the HOCI's authority.

As a last resort, the HOCI might consider transferring the cases to the police, but the police maintain that the 'prosecution authority reservation transfer' is merely a request from the HOCI and does not have binding force on other investigative agencies.

Ultimately, once the three cases are transferred to the prosecution or police, the HOCI will likely lose any involvement in the cases.

From the HOCI's perspective, choosing to investigate directly and conducting principled investigations up to the superiors of former Director Yoon would impose a heavy burden on the Blue House and the ruling party, inviting criticism from ruling party supporters. Conversely, avoiding investigation would lead to criticism from opposition party supporters for neglecting the HOCI's founding purpose of strict investigation of 'high-ranking officials' and 'living powers,' placing the HOCI in a difficult position.

Minister Park Beom-gye, Who Removed Key Prosecutors from the Investigation Team, Now Pressures the Team with 'Indictment Document Leak' Investigation

Meanwhile, Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye instructed Acting Prosecutor General Cho Nam-gwan to conduct a fact-finding investigation into the leak of Chief Prosecutor Lee's indictment document the day before.

Under criminal law, the crime of disclosing suspect information requires that the disclosure be made by an investigative agency member before prosecution is initiated, so if the edited indictment document was leaked before the indictment was filed with the court, it could be problematic.

In the past, indictment documents were typically disclosed after prosecution in high-profile cases attracting public attention. However, in September 2019, while investigations into himself and his family were ongoing, former Minister Cho Kuk established the 'Regulations on Prohibition of Disclosure of Criminal Cases' through a Ministry of Justice ordinance.

Article 17, Paragraph 4 of the regulation states that seizure/search warrants, communication restriction orders, communication fact confirmation data provision requests, arrest/detention warrants and their applications, indictments, or non-prosecution decisions must not be disclosed or copied except as permitted by law, establishing the principle of non-disclosure of indictments.

If the indictment was leaked contrary to these regulations, it would be subject to disciplinary action and possibly criminal punishment.

However, given that former Ministers Cho Kuk and Park Sang-ki have emerged as figures behind the investigation interference at the Anyang Branch, the decision to order a fact-finding investigation into the indictment leak instead of directing a 'strict investigation' may be controversial regarding the appropriateness of the Minister of Justice's conduct. The investigation team, which became the subject of the fact-finding investigation while actively conducting the investigation, may feel implicit pressure to 'restrain the investigation expansion.'

Previously, on March 12, Minister Park denied approval for the extension of dispatch for two prosecutors from the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office's 'Kim Hak-ui Travel Ban Investigation Team' after the HOCI decided to re-transfer the cases of Chief Prosecutor Lee and Prosecutor Lee to the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office.

At that time, the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office had divided five prosecutors, including team leader Lee Jeong-seop, into two teams of two each, conducting a two-track investigation into 'illegal travel ban' and 'investigation interference.'

Minister Park removed two key prosecutors from the investigation team despite the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office's request, citing 'workload' at their original offices as the reason.

These two prosecutors, Im Se-jin, Head of Criminal Division 2 at Pyeongtaek Branch of Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, and Kim Kyung-mok of Busan District Prosecutors' Office, were responsible for investigating Director Cha Gyu-geun of the Ministry of Justice Immigration and Foreign Policy Headquarters and Prosecutor Lee Gyu-won, the key suspect in the 'illegal travel ban' case.

At that time, the investigation team was reviewing the reapplication of an arrest warrant for Director Cha, which had been previously rejected, and the detention of Prosecutor Lee, who had undergone four summonses.

In this situation, Minister Park removed two key prosecutors from the investigation team, citing reasons unrelated to the core issue, such as 'problems with the Prosecutor General renewing dispatch orders without consulting the Ministry of Justice,' despite the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office's request that these were 'indispensable personnel.'

Therefore, voices inside and outside the prosecution called this a 'clear obstruction of investigation.' There are concerns within the prosecution that the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office investigation team may be disbanded in the next personnel reshuffle.

The upcoming fact-finding investigation ordered by Minister Park and the personnel reshuffle expected after the appointment of Prosecutor General nominee Kim Oh-soo are likely to be significant variables in the remaining investigation.