Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office to Baek Haeryong Protesting Warrant Rejection: "No Search and Seizure Based on Speculation" (Comprehensive)

When Police Superintendent Baek Haeryong, who was dispatched to the joint investigation team for the 'Customs Drug Investigation External Pressure Allegations' at the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office, protested that the prosecution had rejected his application for a search and seizure warrant, the Eastern District Prosecutors' Office responded by stating, "A search and seizure cannot be conducted based on vague speculation alone."

View of Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office. Photo by Yonhap News

On the 17th, the Eastern District Prosecutors' Office said, "Exploratory search and seizure for the purpose of simple information gathering or finding investigative leads cannot be permitted," adding, "Other than the documents containing Superintendent Baek's personal assumptions, there was no material at all that could objectively substantiate the alleged facts. Some of the alleged crimes overlapped with cases already closed by the joint investigation team, so the application for the warrant had to be denied."

The office further stated, "Regarding whether customs officials were involved, Superintendent Baek claimed that he knew the drug smuggler was pretending, but there was no such content in Baek's investigation records. The video of the on-site investigation was not included in the records, nor was there any evidence that Baek questioned the smuggler about why they pretended."

The Eastern District Prosecutors' Office also raised concerns about Superintendent Baek's disclosure of investigation documents. "The documents circulated by Superintendent Baek contain unverified allegations, confidential information related to the investigation, and personal data. Disclosing such materials constitutes a serious violation of the law," the office said. "We consider this situation extremely grave and plan to request strict measures from the relevant authorities."

The previous day, the Eastern District Prosecutors' Office had declined to request search and seizure warrants for six locations, including Incheon Airport Customs, as applied for by Superintendent Baek on December 9. In response, Baek protested, stating, "I applied for the search and seizure warrants because there was evidentiary value, but the prosecution dismissed them without proper consideration."