Kim Nam-guk on Prosecutors' Investigation into 'Kim Hak-ui's Travel Ban': "Yoon Seok-yeol's Retaliation Investigation"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] On the 17th, Kim Nam-guk, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, criticized the prosecution's investigation into the 'travel ban on former Vice Minister of Justice Kim Hak-ui,' saying, "It strongly raises suspicions of a retaliatory investigation by Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol."

On the morning of the same day, Kim posted on his Facebook, "Can we really say that the investigation into former Vice Minister Kim, ordered by Prosecutor General Yoon, is not a retaliatory investigation?" He pointed out, "The responsible persons at the time were completely excluded, and only Lee Seong-yoon, the head of the Central District Prosecutors' Office investigating the Yoon family case, and the prosecutors in his line were targeted for investigation."

He said, "There was strong public opinion that former Vice Minister Kim, who was under serious corruption charges at the time, should not have been allowed to flee abroad," and added, "The prosecution urgently requested the Ministry of Justice to impose an emergency travel ban on former Vice Minister Kim."

He continued, "If the travel ban had failed at that time, the investigation might have been suspended due to failure to secure custody, as was the case with former Defense Security Command Commander Cho Hyun-cheon," and emphasized, "This series of processes was not handled unilaterally by a single prosecutor but was processed under the report to the Prosecutor General and the direction of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office."

Kim also criticized, "Nevertheless, Prosecutor General Yoon is now conducting a retaliatory investigation using the travel ban case of former Vice Minister Kim to target prosecutors who did not side with him," and said, "This is clearly a wrongful investigation. It is irresponsible that the leadership of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office at the time is just watching."

Kim also urged former Prosecutor General Moon Moo-il, who was responsible at the time, to explain the situation through Facebook the day before.

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