Marine Special Prosecutor Raids Human Rights Commissioner Kim Yongwon Over Rejection of Park Junghoon Petition

Seizure of Personal Mobile Phone and Other Devices
Summons Expected Soon

The special investigation team led by Special Prosecutor Lee Myunghyun, which is probing allegations of external pressure and cover-up in the death of Marine Corporal Chae, has launched a compulsory investigation into Kim Yongwon, Standing Commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission.

According to legal sources, at around 4 p.m. on October 16, the special investigation team sent investigators to Commissioner Kim's office at the National Human Rights Commission and seized his computer and mobile phone.

Kim Yongwon, Standing Commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission. Yonhap News

Commissioner Kim is reported to have played a key role in rejecting both the request for emergency relief and the petition concerning Colonel Park Junghoon, the former head of the Marine Corps Investigation Unit, who was under investigation for insubordination.

At the time, the Military Human Rights Subcommittee, chaired by Commissioner Kim, dismissed the emergency relief request filed by the Center for Military Human Rights Korea regarding Colonel Park on August 29, 2023, just two weeks after it was submitted on August 14. The subcommittee also dismissed, in January last year, the petition filed by the center on the same day alleging human rights violations against Colonel Park.

The special investigation team suspects that Commissioner Kim changed his stance after speaking with then-Minister of National Defense Lee Jongseop on the day the Center for Military Human Rights Korea submitted its petition and emergency relief request. After completing the analysis of the seized items, including forensic examination of the mobile phone, the special investigation team is expected to coordinate a date to summon Commissioner Kim for questioning.

Previously, in August, the special investigation team imposed a travel ban on Commissioner Kim and summoned former Human Rights Commission Chairman Song Doohwan, Non-Standing Commissioner Han Seokhoon, and Minister of Gender Equality and Family Won Minkyoung as witnesses for questioning, one after another.