“Suspicions of intervention by the President’s Office” and a request to convene the National Assembly Steering Committee

◀ Anchor ▶

The Democratic Party requested that the National Assembly Steering Committee be convened, saying that suspicions of intervention by the President’s Office had grown due to suspicions of external pressure in the ‘Chae Sang-byeong incident’, but the People Power Party refused.

The Marine Corps Reserve National Solidarity filed a complaint to the Corruption Investigation Office against Public Service Discipline Secretary Lee Si-won, who was confirmed to have spoken on the phone with President Yoon Seok-yeol and Legal Affairs Manager Yoon Jae-eun.

This is reporter Kim Jeong-woo.

◀ Report ▶

Yoo Jae-eun, a legal affairs official at the Ministry of National Defense, attended the National Assembly last year.

The Ministry of National Defense’s prosecution team revealed that it was the order of then-Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-seop to retrieve the investigation records of the death of Corporal Chae from the Gyeongbuk Police Agency.

[최강욱/전 민주당 의원 (지난해 8월, 국회)]

“The Ministry of National Defense prosecutors brought investigation materials from the Gyeongbuk Police Agency.”

[신범철/전 국방부 차관 (지난해 8월, 국회)]
“yes.”

[최강욱/전 민주당 의원 (지난해 8월, 국회)]
“Who ordered that?”

[유재은/국방부 법무관리단 (지난해 8월, 국회)]
“The Ministry of National Defense prosecutors heard from the minister…”

[최강욱/전 민주당 의원 (지난해 8월, 국회)]
“Who gave the order?”

[유재은/국방부 법무관리단 (지난해 8월, 국회)]
“The minister ordered the prosecution team to investigate.”

However, former Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-seop recently revealed through his lawyer that he learned of the recovery of the case records after returning from a business trip to Uzbekistan.

However, since the prosecution team that recovered the case is part of the Ministry of Defense, they stated that it is okay to evaluate it as their own actions.

The Democratic Party claimed that the positions of Justice Manager Yoo Jae-eun and former Minister Lee Jong-seop were different.

Regarding the phone call between Presidential Office Discipline Secretary Lee Si-won and Legal Affairs Officer Yoo Jae-eun, the ruling party criticized the request for a convening of the National Assembly Steering Committee as suspicions of intervention in the Presidential Office grew greater, but the ruling party refused.

[박주민/더불어민주당 원내수석부대표]
“One of them is lying. I said, ‘Let’s open a steering committee meeting,’ and ‘It was revealed that Lee Si-won, secretary for public service discipline, called. Shouldn’t we check it?’ He flatly refused.”

The People Power Party took the position that “we need to receive a national evaluation to see if the problem is that serious,” and also drew a line with regard to special prosecutor Chae Sang-byeong, saying, “The prerequisite for a special prosecutor is when the investigation is poor or there are problems.”

[윤재옥/국민의힘 원내대표]
“Looking at the past few days, the Democratic Party has the feeling that they are completely ‘hanging their necks’ on special prosecutor Chae Sang-byeong…”

The National Association of Marine Corps Reserves filed a complaint to the Corruption Investigation Office against Presidential Office Discipline Secretary Lee Si-won, who was confirmed to have spoken on the phone with President Yoon Seok-yeol and Legal Affairs Officer Yoon Jae-eun, on charges of abuse of power and other charges.

This is Kim Jeong-woo from MBC News.

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