It was belatedly revealed that Vice Minister of Justice Lee Yong-gu assaulted a taxi driver while drunk last month while he was a lawyer.
According to Seoul's Seocho Police Department, Vice Minister Lee caught a taxi driver in an apartment in Seocho-gu late at night early last month when he was working as a lawyer.
It was reported that the taxi driver who arrived at the apartment at the time was trying to awaken the deputy, who was sleeping in the car while drunk.
After receiving the 112 report from the taxi driver, the police who were dispatched confirmed the identity of the deputy minister, and decided to investigate further and sent it back.
However, the taxi driver later revealed that he did not want to be punished, and in accordance with the policy to deal with simple assault, which is an anti-government crime, the police did not file a criminal charge with the vice minister and settled the case as an internal investigation.
Certain crimes that aggravate assault on a driving car driver (Special Privilege Act) was not followed, but a simple assault charge under the criminal law was applied, the police official explained that it followed the existing precedent.
A police official said, "If a car is parked or stopped in a place where there is no fear of impairing public traffic safety and order, it is not driving," said a decision by the Constitutional Court in 2017. "It's closed."
(Photo = Yonhap News)