Yoo Si-min: "Lee In-gyu Will Not Understand Roh Moo-hyun's Glory"

Former Roh Moo-hyun Foundation Chairman Reads Lee In-gyu Memoir
"Lee In-gyu Likely Didn't Write Just to Get a Spot"
"All Content Already in News, Nothing New"

Former head of the Central Investigation Department at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, Lee In-gyu, recently published a memoir in which he claimed that all bribery allegations against the late former President Roh Moo-hyun were true. In response, the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation condemned Lee, who was responsible for the investigation, accusing him of secondary harm and defamation against the deceased.

At the same time, some in the political sphere analyzed that Lee might be using the memoir's publication as a stepping stone to enter politics. There are suspicions about the timing of the book release, which came about a year before the general election.

However, writer Yoo Si-min, who once served as chairman of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation, analyzed, "He probably did not write it just to gain a position." On the 21st, during the YouTube broadcast 'Kim Eo-jun's Humility is Difficult News Factory,' he said, "There was a scene of him smiling that was exposed to the media, and because of that, he resigned from his position as head of the Central Investigation Department. Lee probably felt wronged, thinking that the late President Roh did not die because of him."

At that time, senior prosecutors, including Lee who led the investigation, were embroiled in controversy when a photo of the late President Roh smiling through the window of the Central Investigation Department office at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in April 2009, when he was summoned, was captured by the media.

Author Yoo Si-min. [Photo by Yonhap News]

Yoo evaluated the memoir, saying, "The content was all reported in the news from late 2008 to spring 2009, and there is nothing new. If you gather all the leaked information about the current Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung and write a book, it would be the same as this one."

He continued, "In the memoir, Lee says things like, 'He did something he deserved,' 'He didn’t die because of me, but because the friends he trusted betrayed him and he died feeling wronged,' 'And another bad person bullied him,' and 'I actually told him not to do it.'"

Yoo viewed the ongoing factual disputes in the political arena regarding the late President Roh's case as meaningless. He said, "Except for what the late President Roh said was true during his lifetime, everything else is Lee’s one-sided claim, and since it cannot be verified, what is the point of the dispute?"

He added, "Lee In-gyu will never understand what kind of person Roh Moo-hyun was or Roh’s glory." Since Lee’s personality is very different from the late president’s, he would find it difficult to understand his choices. Yoo said, "There are almost no people who participate in both real estate and stock communities and humanities communities at the same time because each has its own glory," adding, "The two men are that far apart in terms of personality."

Yoo further stated, "The late President Roh endured tremendous humiliation throughout his life. He did not die because he couldn’t endure humiliation," and argued, "Many people besides him endured humiliation and fought with vested interests to achieve the noble goals of politics. Because of a sense of responsibility that he was becoming a burden rather than a strength to those people, he arranged his final moments."

Yoo added, "Characters like Lee In-gyu, who place their center of gravity outside themselves?on their status and power as prosecutors and heads of the Central Investigation Department, others’ views, and recognition?cannot understand people who judge the continuation of their lives based on inner changes."

On the morning of the 18th, at Kyobo Bookstore in Jongno-gu, Seoul, the memoir of former Chief of the Central Investigation Department of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, Lee In-gyu, titled I Was a Prosecutor of the Republic of Korea - Who Killed Roh Moo-hyun?, which contains content suggesting that all bribery charges against the late former President Roh Moo-hyun were true, was displayed. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Meanwhile, Lee included behind-the-scenes stories of the investigation into the late president in his memoir. He claimed that the bribery allegations against the late President Roh were true and also wrote that former President Moon Jae-in’s defense efforts were insufficient.

In response, the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation issued a statement on the 17th, saying, "The political prosecutor most responsible for the late president’s death is a product of political manipulation who adapted an incomplete prosecution investigation into a book," and criticized it as "secondary harm to the deceased and his bereaved family."

As controversy over the authenticity of the memoir grew, Lee said on the 20th to Yonhap News Agency, "I will take responsibility for the contents of the book," adding, "I wrote the facts as they were, based on my direct experience and investigation records." Regarding speculation about political activity or public office, he drew a clear line, saying, "I have no intention of entering politics. I have no plans to take public office again, and even if offered, I will refuse."