It was confirmed today (24th) that the prosecution investigating the case of the departure ban of the former Deputy Minister of Justice Kim Hak-eui changed the status of Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office Lee Seong-yoon, who is suspected of outside investigation, to the status of a suspect, and made an official request to attend.



According to the assessment authorities, the investigation team, head of the Suwon District Prosecutor's Office, Lee Jung-seop, sent an attendance request to the District Prosecutor's Office on two occasions last weekend and early this week.



It is reported that the prosecution took the same action by converting the original reference person to the suspect as a complaint against the district prosecutor was filed on the 18th.



It is not known who the accuser is.



Prosecutor Lee is said to have rejected the two requests for formal attendance by the prosecution for reasons such as "the date is tight."



Due to this, the attendance investigation at the district prosecutor's office was canceled.



Earlier, the prosecution tried to adjust the attendance schedule for three times during the Lunar New Year holidays by wire or wire, but the prosecutor, who was the reference at the time, refused to respond to the request for investigation, saying, "I am busy with many issues."



On the 17th, right after the Lunar New Year holiday, the prosecutor's office was reported that he was not responding to the prosecution's request for attendance. “It is not true that the anti-corruption force of the Supreme Prosecutor's Office at the time pressed the Anyang District to stop the investigation.” It was a command," he denied the suspicion.



As Chief Prosecutor Lee denies the allegations and keeps his willingness to refuse to attend, attention is drawn to the prosecution's actions in the future.



Some are raising the possibility of turning into a forced investigation.



The prosecution usually sends a request for attendance to the suspect more than once, and if it is not accepted, it initiates a compulsory investigation such as a request for an arrest warrant.



However, there are observations that it will not be easy to claim a warrant, considering that Lee is the incumbent Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office and the facts of the contents of the second public interest report have not yet been clearly revealed.



Even if a warrant of arrest is requested, the investigation power may be lost if the court dismisses it, and there is a possibility that this case may be transferred to the airlift in the future under the Act on the Establishment and Operation of Crime Investigation Centers for Senior Officials. Weight your comments.



In the second public interest report, Suwon District Prosecutors' Anyang Branch attempted to investigate and investigate the situation in which the emergency withdrawal measures for Kim were illegally carried out in the process of investigating the suspicion that withdrawal information was leaked to former Vice Minister Kim in 2019. It appears that the investigation was stopped due to the pressure of the anti-corruption force.



The prosecution conducted an investigation with reference to Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, Moon Hong-seong, who was a member of the anti-corruption division at the time, (then, the chief researcher of the anti-corruption division), Kim Hyeong-geun, the deputy prosecutor of the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors’ Office (Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office), and Dae-jin Yoon, vice president of the Judicial Research and Training Institute (Prosecutor's Office of the Ministry of Justice). Prior to this, it was reported that Moon Chan-seok, former prosecutor, had received an affidavit from the former prosecutor's office.



Regarding the suspicion of'external pressure to stop the investigation', the only target of the investigation was the chief prosecutor, who was the anti-corruption chief at the time.



Meanwhile, a two-track investigation into the suspicion of'illegal withdrawal measures' has progressed considerably.



From the 16th to the 23rd, the prosecution called Cha Gyu-geun, head of the Immigration and Foreigners Policy Headquarters, the key figure of the suspicion, three times, and investigated by prosecutor Lee Gyu-won, then the Supreme Prosecutor's Office, as a suspect four times.



The prosecution is also looking into the involvement of the Blue House Civil Affairs Secretary Lee Kwang-cheol, whose name was mentioned from the initial stage of filing a suspicion based on the investigation of the two.



(Photo = Yonhap News)