▲ Park Chul-woo, Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, gives a work report during a parliamentary audit of the Seoul Metropolitan Public Prosecutors' Office (formerly the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office) and other agencies held at the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly on the 19th.
Park Chul-woo, Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, has described it as "inappropriate" that Kim Min-gu, former head of the Gongju Branch of the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office who previously investigated First Lady Kim Keon-hee over alleged stock manipulation involving Deutsch Motors, continued to be involved in the investigation even after moving to a new post.
Chief Prosecutor Park made the remarks during a parliamentary audit by the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly on the 19th, responding to criticisms that former branch head Kim participated in the investigation into First Lady Kim without proper authority.
Representative Kim Ki-pyo of the Democratic Party of Korea pointed out that even after being appointed as branch head in June 2024, former branch head Kim continued to exchange communications with prosecutors from the anti-corruption department and sat in on the face-to-face questioning of First Lady Kim in July of the same year, while omitting his name from the investigator's signature line.
When Representative Kim asked for his opinion, Chief Prosecutor Park stated, "I found out about this for the first time after seeing media reports that came out between yesterday and today."
When Representative Kim remarked that it was "extremely inappropriate," Chief Prosecutor Park agreed, saying, "Yes."
According to the indictment of former branch head Kim, as a former member of the Deutsch Motors stock manipulation investigation team, he exchanged 1,362 messages and 1,939 notes with prosecutors belonging to the anti-corruption department of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office even after moving to his new assignment in June 2024.
He was also found to have participated in the face-to-face questioning of First Lady Kim conducted at the Presidential Security Service annex in July of the same year by directly presenting evidence or asking questions.
At the time, former branch head Kim had not even received a duty proxy order allowing him to perform official duties outside his jurisdiction.
In response to Representative Kim's point that such incidents led to the public demand for separating investigation and prosecution powers, Chief Prosecutor Park stated, "Frontline prosecutors' offices are making every effort under the revised system to ensure there are no gaps in victim protection, and we are paying close attention to division of duties across all departments and in every aspect."
Former branch head Kim was indicted by the 2nd Special Prosecutor Team led by Kwon Chang-young on charges of being involved in covering up the Deutsch Motors investigation concerning First Lady Kim, and is currently standing trial in the first instance.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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