Review of Confrontation Interview on 'VIP Anger Rumor'... Former Defense Ministry Investigation Chief Park Kyung-hoon Summoned for Questioning the Day Before
The High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Division (HOCID), which is investigating allegations of external pressure in the case of the death of Marine Corps Corporal Chae, has summoned Marine Corps Commander Kim Gye-hwan.
Marine Corps Commander Kim Gye-hwan is entering the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Division at the Government Complex Gwacheon in Gyeonggi on the 21st to undergo investigation related to allegations of external pressure in the investigation of the death of Marine Corps Corporal Chae Mo. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@
On the morning of the 21st, the HOCID Investigation Division 4 (Chief Prosecutor Lee Dae-hwan) re-summoned Commander Kim as a suspect on charges of abuse of authority and obstruction of rights. In the afternoon, former Marine Corps Investigation Unit Chief Colonel Park Jeong-hoon will be summoned. Since both were called on the same day, it is expected that a confrontation investigation will be conducted to verify the truth of the allegations that President Yoon Seok-yeol became enraged after receiving a report on Corporal Chae’s case from the Marine Corps.
Commander Kim, who appeared at the HOCID that morning, did not respond to reporters' questions such as "Is it true that you said President Yoon was enraged during a phone call with former Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-seop?" and went straight to the investigation room.
Commander Kim is suspected of being involved in the process of external pressure from higher-ups on former Unit Chief Park, who conducted the initial investigation into Corporal Chae’s death in July and August of last year.
The core of the allegations is that former Unit Chief Park tried to refer eight senior officers, including former 1st Marine Division Commander Im Seong-geun, to the police on charges of professional negligence resulting in death, but the Presidential Office and other higher authorities intervened to suspend this and reduce the number of suspects to two.
After former Unit Chief Park reported the investigation results applying professional negligence resulting in death charges to eight senior officers, including the 1st Marine Division Commander, to former Minister Lee on July 30 last year, Commander Kim suddenly notified the cancellation of a press briefing and ordered a return to the unit the next day. Subsequently, National Defense Ministry Legal Affairs Officer Yoo Jae-eun called former Unit Chief Park and told him to "remove all suspects and charges."
Former Unit Chief Park stated that after the briefing was canceled under former Minister Lee’s orders, Commander Kim said, "The Ministry of National Defense is asking to remove suspects and charges from the police handover documents," and added, "There was a mention of the 1st Division investigation results at the morning VIP meeting at the Presidential Office, and after the VIP became enraged and spoke with former Minister Lee Jong-seop, this happened."
On the other hand, Commander Kim is known to have completely denied these allegations during the military prosecution investigation, stating, "It seems that former Unit Chief Park is fabricating this story alone to escape the insubordination case," and "I never mentioned the VIP at all."
Earlier, since the end of last month, the HOCID has been intensifying suspect investigations by sequentially summoning Legal Affairs Officer Yoo, former Acting Head of the Ministry of National Defense Investigation Headquarters Park Gyeong-hoon, and others. The HOCID also summoned and investigated former Acting Head Park the day before.
After concluding the investigation of Commander Kim, the HOCID is expected to expand the investigation to higher-ups such as former Deputy Minister of National Defense Shin Beom-cheol and former Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-seop.
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