"Likely to Have a Considerable Impact"
Lee Jun-seok, a member of the Reform New Party, claimed regarding the release of a recording attempting to save Im Seong-geun, former commander of the 1st Marine Division and an accomplice in the 'Deutsche Motors stock manipulation case,' “If someone had suffered so much due to being involved in the Deutsche Motors case, the answer would be to keep distance, but the mere fact that the name comes up like this raises suspicions about the relationship between (the accomplice), First Lady Kim Geon-hee, and President Yoon Seok-yeol.”
On the morning of the 21st of last month, Im Seong-geun, former commander of the 1st Marine Division (left), who attended the plenary meeting of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee where the legislative hearing on the 'Special Prosecutor Appointment Act for the Investigation of Obstruction and Cover-up of the Truth Regarding the Death of a Marine' (Chae Sang-byeong Special Prosecutor Act) was held, is responding to questions from committee members. [Image source=Yonhap News]
Appearing on SBS Radio’s ‘Kim Tae-hyun’s Political Show,’ Lee said, “Such a private individual should be closer to the Presidential Security Service than even the president, but if the Security Service instead made such a request to Lee Jong-ho, former CEO of Black Pearl Investment, who was convicted as a key figure in the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation, and asked him to deliver it to the VIP, then the position of this former CEO does not seem ordinary.”
When asked “Who do you presume the VIP mentioned in the recording to be?” he replied, “We jokingly say V0, V1, V2 because First Lady Kim is very interested in state affairs, but generally, when we say VIP, it means the president,” adding, “In fact, since the couple seems to be like one body, it doesn’t really matter much.”
Lee stated, “Usually in the military, if a report is submitted on calculations, it is customary that when such a death accident occurs, the division commander either resigns or is relieved of duty accordingly, but the president cannot be enraged just by hearing that,” and added, “If there is some other input like ‘We must definitely take care of this person later,’ then it could be possible. So I believe this recording will have a considerable impact.”
According to the legal community the previous day, the High-ranking Officials’ Crime Investigation Division (PCC), investigating allegations of external pressure in the investigation of Marine Private Chae’s death, secured an audio recording containing evidence of lobbying efforts to save former 1st Marine Division commander Im. The former CEO appearing in this file is known to have managed First Lady Kim’s account in the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation case.
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