Ex-National Office of Investigation Chief Park Sung-ju's Phone Seized… Investigation Into Command Line Imminent

[Anchor]

The prosecution, which is investigating allegations of botched police handling of the Jang Yoon-ki case, has confirmed that it seized the work mobile phone of former National Office of Investigation (NOI) Chief Park Sung-ju. The prosecution plans to question former Chief Park and other NOI officials regarding the circumstances under which they directed Jang's sexual crime and murder cases to be investigated separately.

Reporting by reporter Bae Seong-jae.

[Reporter]

The prosecution is focusing on the so-called "separate assignment" process during the initial investigation of the Jang Yoon-ki case, where the Gwangsan Police Station's detective division and the women and youth division split the investigation between the high school girl murder case and the sexual crime against a Vietnamese woman.

Previously, following the Namyangju stalking murder case in March of this year, the police reported a countermeasure to the presidential office stating that upon receiving stalking reports, they would "immediately accept cases regardless of jurisdiction."

However, when a Vietnamese woman reported suffering from stalking by Jang on May 3 of last year, this principle was not followed, and two days later around midnight on May 5, Jang murdered the late Lee Chae-won.

The prosecution suspects that former National Office of Investigation Chief Park Sung-ju and the NOI command line ordered the separate assignment with the aim of concealing the botched initial investigation into the Vietnamese woman's stalking case.

In connection with this, the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office seized former Chief Park's work mobile phone late last month, as confirmed by SBS's reporting.

It is reported that by analyzing the secured mobile phone, they are checking whether former Chief Park actually ordered the separate assignment, and whether there are circumstances indicating he received reports or gave related directives.

The prosecution is reportedly reviewing how to proceed with the questioning of five individuals from the former NOI command line, including former Chief Park, who were recently booked as suspects on charges of abuse of authority.

SBS sent text messages and made multiple phone calls to former Chief Park to inquire about these allegations, but he did not respond.

(Video Editing: So Ji-hye, Design: Kim Ye-ji)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.