“I will talk to the investigative agency about the phone call with Lee Si-won” Yoo Jae-eun is summoned by the Corruption Investigation Office

The High-ranking Public Officials Crime Investigation Office summoned Ministry of National Defense Legal Affairs Officer Yoo Jae-eun today and is investigating as of this moment.

He appears in every process of downsizing and suspicion of external pressure related to the ‘Marine Corps Chae Sang-byeol death in the line of duty incident’, and in particular, he is a person who even has a phone call history with Lee Si-won, secretary for public service discipline in the President’s Office.

Let’s connect with a reporter working at the Corruption Investigation Office.

Reporter Park Sol-nip, the investigation is still continuing, right?

◀ Reporter ▶

Yes, Jae-eun Yoo, the legal affairs manager of the Ministry of National Defense, arrived at the Airborne Investigation Office here at 9:30 a.m., so the investigation has been continuing for 10 hours.

Legal Affairs Manager Yoo only said that he would respond faithfully to the investigation. Let’s hear it for yourself.

[유재은/국방부 법무관리관]
″<(The Marine Corps) said they received a call asking them to include only the facts in the report, excluding the allegations. What do you think?> I will give you a sincere answer today. The investigative agency will fully reveal this.″

This is the first investigation to summon key suspects in three months since the search and seizure last January.

The investigation is expected to be completed late at night, as both lunch and dinner are eaten inside the building.

◀ Anchor ▶

The most important suspicion is why and what was the content of the phone call with Secretary Lee Si-won?

Investigations into this area are also being conducted, right?

◀ Reporter ▶

Yes, MBC reported on August 2nd of last year, when the Ministry of National Defense recovered the ‘Corporal Chae case’ investigation records from the police.

We exclusively reported that the Corruption Investigation Office has obtained details of Secretary Lee Si-won’s phone call with Legal Affairs Manager Yoo Jae-eun.

I asked about this call, but Legal Affairs Manager Yoo declined to comment.

Let’s hear it for yourself.

[유재은/국방부 법무관리관]
″ The investigative agency will tell you everything today.″

The head of the Marine Corps investigation team that first investigated the case, the police officer who returned the case record to the Ministry of National Defense, and all have pointed to Legal Affairs Officer Yoo Jae-eun as the person who personally called and coordinated the process.

In addition, during the reinvestigation, we consistently conveyed the opinion that the number of suspects should be reduced from 8 to 2.

Today’s investigation is expected to serve as a stepping stone to the higher-ups as to who ordered him to play this role.

Since he is a key figure who appears in every process, there are predictions that the summons will not be completed all at once, but may be conducted multiple times.

This is MBC News Park Sol-ip from the Corruption Investigation Office.

Video coverage: Jiyoon Son / Video editing: Jeonggeun Lee