Park Joon-young “Kim Hak’s Withdrawal, Know the situation well and defend it”

On the 18th, attorney Park Joon-young, who worked as a member of the case investigation team related to the former Deputy Minister of Justice Kim Hak-e in the Past Photographic Investigation Group of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, said, “There was no basis for the ban on leaving the country. There was no suspicion of making an investigation request,” he said, raising doubts about the ban on departure from former Vice Minister Kim and the subsequent investigation request process. On the 16th, the Ministry of Justice refuted the controversy over the illegal departure ban against former Vice Minister Kim, saying, “It is only a secondary controversy because it is possible to ban leaving the country under the authority of the Minister of Justice.”

Attorney Park first pointed out the fact that the Prosecutor’s Office of the Ministry of Justice on March 12, 11 days before the ban on departure for former Vice Minister Kim, which was imposed on March 23, 2019, refused to extend the period of activities of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office. Then, “6 days later, on March 18, when President Moon Jae-in ordered’to take the good luck of the prosecutor to investigate the facts such as Kim Hak’s case,’ the past son-in-law of the Ministry of Justice reversed the position and extended the period of the investigation team. No new evidence or facts have been confirmed.”

Attorney Park argued, “Because we blocked the departure of the country (for former Vice Minister Kim) in the name of a criminal investigation, we have created a situation where we have no choice but to request an investigation on March 25,” he said. “The investigation request was very poor.” Regarding that former Vice Minister Kim was sentenced to two years and six months in prison for bribery at the second trial in October last year, “The fact that he was convicted was not a problem at all at the time of the emergency ban on departure. It was a charge that the investigation team searched and found like this.” Attorney Park also said that Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae defended the position of the Ministry of Justice, saying, “It is to undermine the past son-in-law’s activities and even legitimate re-investigation in relation to the former vice-minister Kim’s case.” Please judge whether to do it.” From February 2018 to early March 2019, just before Kim was banned from leaving the country, Mr. Park was active in the investigation team of former Vice Minister Kim of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Investigation Team. It is reported that during the process of prosecutor Lee Gyu-won, who was a member of the Supreme Examination fact-finding team, drafting an emergency ban on departure for Kim, the Supreme Prosecutors’ Planning and Coordination Department gave internal instructions three times not to be involved in the preparation of the request. This means that the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office shared the perception that there was an offense in the case of proceeding with the Deputy Minister Kim, who was not the suspect at the time. At the time, it is said that Moon Chan-seok, head of the planning and coordination department, received an inquiry from Kim Tae-hoon, head of the Policy Planning Division, regarding the request for a ban on departure, and commanded, “Do not get involved, because it is not our jurisdiction. Jeon Moon also said to a researcher belonging to the Planning and Coordination Department, “This is a matter that has already been resolved. Do not intervene.”

Suwon District Prosecutor’s Office 3 (Director Jeong-seop Lee), who is investigating allegations of illegal withdrawal against former Vice Minister Kim, is known to be planning to investigate this prosecutor sooner or later.

Wonmo Yoo [email protected], Reporter Hwang Seong-ho