Prosecution Assigns Former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon Related Complaint Case to Criminal Division 2

Investigation Targets Even Police Chief Min Gap-ryong... Prosecutors Expected to Conduct Direct Investigation

Seoul Seocho-dong Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office building.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, which was assigned the complaint cases related to the late former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, has allocated the cases to the Criminal Division.

On the 17th, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office announced that it had assigned five complaint cases related to the late former Mayor Park to the Criminal Division 2. The prosecution designated Deputy Chief Prosecutor Lee Chang-soo of Criminal Division 2 as the lead prosecutor for these cases.

A prosecution official stated, "Whether to conduct a direct investigation or supervise the investigation will be reviewed by the assigned department after the allocation."

In this case, since there was also a complaint regarding the allegation of aiding and abetting forced sexual harassment by the late former Mayor Park, there was speculation that the case might be assigned to the Women and Children Crime Investigation Division, which specializes in sex crime investigations. However, the investigation department was ultimately decided to be the Criminal Division. It appears that the heavy workload of Criminal Division 1 due to the 'media collusion' case investigation was taken into consideration.

Within the prosecution, considering the public interest, importance, and investigation targets of this case, the prevailing view is that the prosecution will conduct a direct investigation rather than merely issuing investigative instructions.

Since the complainants filed by the United Future Party the day before included Police Commissioner Min Gap-ryong, and police officials are expected to be under investigation regarding the leak of the late former Mayor Park's 'accusation facts,' it is highly likely that the prosecution will conduct a direct investigation.

Currently, the police are conducting a separate investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of the late former Mayor Park. To this end, the police are performing digital forensic analysis on the late former Mayor Park's mobile phone and are summoning and investigating Seoul city officials one after another.

Previously, four civic groups, including a lawyers' association, filed complaints with the Supreme Prosecutors' Office against Blue House and police officials for breach of official secrets related to the leak of the late former Mayor Park's accusation facts, and against Seoul city officials for aiding and abetting forced sexual harassment through abuse of authority in the course of duty.

Additionally, the day before, the United Future Party filed complaints with the Supreme Prosecutors' Office against Police Commissioner Min Gap-ryong and officials from the Police Agency and Blue House for violations of the Sexual Violence Punishment Act and breach of official secrets.

During the investigation, the prosecution is expected to first verify the facts regarding ▲ whether the police's report to the Blue House based on the Blue House Secretariat regulations was legally justified ▲ who conveyed the accusation facts to the late former Mayor Park's side?whether it was the police, Blue House officials, or someone else ▲ and whether any Seoul city officials knew of the sexual harassment and neglected to act, before proceeding to legal review for judicial processing.

In this process, it is highly likely that fact-finding regarding whether the late former Mayor Park actually committed sexual harassment will inevitably take place.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.