First National Office of Investigation Official Summoned... Focus on Clarifying 'Head's Directives'

[Anchor]

The prosecution has summoned and questioned an official from the National Office of Investigation (NOI) to look into allegations that the decision to investigate Jang Yoon-ki's two cases separately stemmed from instructions given by the then-head of the NOI. This marks the first time an NOI official has been summoned for questioning by the prosecution.

Reporter Kim Deok-hyeon has the details.

[Reporter]

A man in a suit wearing a black mask enters the prosecution office building.

He is Senior Superintendent Choi, head of the violent crimes investigation division at the Korean National Police Agency's National Office of Investigation, and the first NOI official to be summoned by the prosecution.

[Senior Superintendent Choi / Head of Violent Crimes Investigation Division, National Office of Investigation: (Did you ever convey that the head of the NOI ordered the separation of the investigations?) ......]

The prosecution summoned Senior Superintendent Choi as a reference witness to question him about the circumstances surrounding his instruction last May to the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency's violent crimes investigation division to conduct separate investigations into Jang Yoon-ki's murder and sexual assault crimes.

The prosecution is focusing in particular on the part where Senior Superintendent Choi reportedly relayed a message to the Gwangju police stating, "This is an instruction from the head of the NOI."

This is because Senior Superintendent Choi has been directly communicating with the top leadership of the NOI, having even served as the acting head of the NOI's violent crimes investigation department amidst a vacancy.

Former Superintendent Park, who formerly led the detective division at Gwangsan Police Station and directly investigated the "Jang Yoon-ki case," was also summoned by the prosecution.

Representatives for former Superintendent Park previously claimed that "there was a directive from the National Office of Investigation" to separate Jang Yoon-ki's sexual assault and murder cases, and that although they requested a "combined investigation" through the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency, the NOI blocked it three times.

Through questioning of related parties, the prosecution is focusing on determining whether there is any connection between suspicions of initial botched investigations by the Gwangsan Police Station and direct orders from the NOI leadership, which serves as the control tower for police investigations.

In response, the NOI previously explained that it issued the directives "to secure completeness in the investigation," judging that it would be difficult to prove the sexual assault crimes within the statutory transfer period of the Jang Yoon-ki case.

(Video by Joo Bum | Video Editing by Choi Hye-ran | Design by Jang Chae-woo)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.