Seven Attendees Identified, Including Kim Yonghyun
Former Marine Corps Commander Kim Gyehwan to Be Summoned Again on the 17th
The special prosecutor team led by Lee Myunghyun, which is investigating allegations of external pressure on the investigation into the death of Marine Corps Corporal Chae, announced that it has obtained testimony that Kim Yonghyun, former Minister of National Defense, attended the so-called "VIP Rage" meeting.
On July 16, Special Prosecutor Jeong Minyoung stated at a regular briefing, "There is a person who specifically testified that former Minister Kim attended the meeting." The "VIP Rage" allegation refers to suspicions that former President Yoon Sukyeol, after receiving a report on the initial investigation results of the Marine Corps investigation team regarding Corporal Chae's death at a senior aides' meeting, became angry and said, "If you punish the division commander (Im Sunggeun, then commander of the 1st Marine Division) over this, who would want to be a division commander?" It is suspected that this anger influenced the investigation as a form of pressure.
Recently, the special prosecutor team identified seven participants in the meeting where the "VIP Rage" allegation arose. The investigation found that former President Yoon Sukyeol, former Minister of National Defense Kim Yonghyun, former NIS Director Cho Taeyong, former First Deputy Director of the National Security Office Kim Taehyo, former Defense Secretary Im Kihun, former Foreign Affairs Secretary Lee Chungmyun, and former Economic Security Secretary Wang Yunjong attended the meeting.
Previously, the special prosecutor team summoned former Deputy Director Kim, former Secretary Lee, and former Secretary Wang in succession to investigate the circumstances of the meeting. It is known that all of them testified during the special prosecutor's investigation that they witnessed former President Yoon expressing anger during the meeting. When asked whether all seven individuals would be summoned, Special Prosecutor Jeong replied, "We generally plan to investigate all of them, but I do not know if we are currently coordinating all the schedules for their appearances." Accordingly, it is expected that former Minister Kim will also be summoned by the special prosecutor team soon.
On this day, the special prosecutor team is summoning Park Junghoon, head of the Marine Corps investigation team (Colonel), Kang Uigu, former Presidential Office Secretary, and Choi Juwon, former Gyeongbuk Provincial Police Chief (Senior Superintendent General), for questioning. Colonel Park and former Secretary Kang will be questioned as witnesses, while Senior Superintendent General Choi will be questioned as a suspect. On July 17, the team also plans to additionally summon and question Kim Gyehwan, former Marine Corps Commander.
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