Special Prosecutor Imposes Travel Ban on Human Rights Commissioner Kim Yongwon Over Dismissal of Park Junghoon's Emergency Relief Application

Kim Yongwon, Standing Commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission, is responding to questions at the National Assembly Steering Committee's national audit of the National Human Rights Commission held at the National Assembly in October last year. Photo by Kim Hyunmin

The special prosecutor team led by Lee Myeonghyeon, which is investigating allegations of external pressure in the investigation into the death of Private Chae, has imposed a travel ban on Kim Yongwon, Standing Commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission and Military Human Rights Protector (vice-ministerial level), who dismissed the emergency relief application filed by Colonel Park Junghoon, head of the Marine Corps Investigation Unit. The team has now launched a full-scale investigation.

According to the legal community on the 21st, the special prosecutor team recently imposed a travel ban on Commissioner Kim. The team plans to summon Commissioner Kim and members of the Human Rights Commission’s military human rights subcommittee at the time to investigate the circumstances surrounding the dismissal of Colonel Park’s emergency relief application.

The military human rights subcommittee, chaired by Commissioner Kim, rejected the emergency relief application filed by the Center for Military Human Rights Korea on behalf of former unit head Park on August 29, 2023. On the same day, the commission also dismissed a petition filed by the Center for Military Human Rights Korea regarding alleged human rights violations against Colonel Park, a decision that was finalized in January last year.

On August 9, 2023, Commissioner Kim issued a statement criticizing the Ministry of National Defense Prosecutors’ Office for retrieving investigation materials related to the death of Private Chae. However, the special prosecutor team suspects that Commissioner Kim changed his position after a phone call with then-Minister of National Defense Lee Jongseop on the day the Center for Military Human Rights Korea filed its petition and emergency relief application.

Previously, the Center for Military Human Rights Korea requested an investigation by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) into Commissioner Kim on charges including abuse of authority, citing the dismissal of Colonel Park’s petition in May last year, interference with the review of the emergency relief application, and contact with former Minister Lee.

Commissioner Kim, a former prosecutor from the 10th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute, was appointed as Standing Commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission in February 2023 under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration. His term runs until February next year.