According to the Kyunghyang Shinmun, the fact-finding unit under the Justice Ministry's Prosecutorial Human Rights Respect Future Committee on Oct. 15 first reported its findings on three cases. The committee reached no conclusion that day and asked for supplements.
The Kyunghyang Shinmun reported on Oct. 15 that the fact-finding unit under the Justice Ministry's Prosecutorial Human Rights Respect Future Committee briefed the committee on how prosecutors investigated and indicted three cases, including the Wirye new-town development case in which President Lee Jae-myung was indicted. It is the first time the unit has reported results among the seven first-round cases chosen in June.
광고 문의 · 300×250The other two are the Moon Jae-in-era statistics manipulation case and the shooting death of a Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official in the West Sea. The unit reviewed investigation records and surveyed the investigating teams in writing. The committee says it will use the findings to decide whether the investigations and indictments were unlawful.
After the meeting the committee said it had discussed that “some matters need to be supplemented” and that its next meeting would be on Oct. 29. The Kyunghyang Shinmun wrote that the unit is understood to have reported finding no illegality in the three cases, but the committee did not publicly say what the report concluded.
The three cases
The Wirye case concerns allegations that in 2013 Lee gave private developers favors and inside information during the Wirye development; the developers were acquitted at first instance and prosecutors dropped their appeal. The Kyunghyang Shinmun said Lee's related trial is currently suspended.
The statistics case involves allegations that the Moon-era presidential office and the land ministry distorted data to hide the failure of housing policy; a first-instance trial is under way. The West Sea case concerns the 2020 killing of official Lee Dae-jun by North Korean troops and claims that the government covered up or played down the incident; the Kyunghyang Shinmun said an acquittal has become final.
Next steps and controversy
According to the Kyunghyang Shinmun, the committee will consider whether to close each investigation and may recommend further work to the unit. In all, 19 cases are targeted: seven first-round cases and 12 added in August, of which eight directly or indirectly involve Lee. Results on the remaining four first-round cases are due within November.
Lee Geun-woo, a Gachon University professor who heads the Korean Criminal Procedure Law Association, told the paper that controversy is unavoidable whether the unit finds no problem or the opposite. Under its rules the committee can recommend remedial and recurrence-prevention steps to the justice minister, so whether it might urge dropping an indictment is being discussed, but what it will conclude has not been confirmed.
