Citizen Group Files Investigation Request and Complaint Against Lee Yong-gu to Prosecution... "Request to Delete Black Box Video Constitutes Evidence Tampering Instruction" (Comprehensive)

Lee Yong-gu, Deputy Minister of Justice. / Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] After some media reports claimed that Vice Minister Lee Yong-gu asked a taxi driver, whom he assaulted, to delete the black box footage, a civic group has requested the prosecution to investigate the vice minister.

The Association of Judicial Exam Preparers (Sajunmo) announced on the 25th that it submitted a request for investigation to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office via the National Petition System, asking for a review of whether Vice Minister Lee is guilty of instructing evidence destruction.

Sajunmo stated, "According to media reports, the vice minister requested the victim to delete the black box footage, which is crucial physical evidence in a violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes," adding, "Although the taxi driver did not immediately delete the black box footage at the vice minister's request, the taxi driver deleted the black box footage stored on his phone at the time of the accident, and it has been confirmed that the prosecution restored this footage through forensic methods."

They continued, "While destroying evidence related to one's own criminal case is not a crime, instructing others to destroy such evidence is recognized as instigating evidence destruction according to precedent," and argued, "If the vice minister's instigation influenced the taxi driver to delete the footage to some extent, then the vice minister is liable for instructing evidence destruction."

Sajunmo also submitted a request for investigation to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office to review whether the investigator in charge of the taxi driver assault case committed the crimes of falsifying official documents and using forged documents.

Sajunmo explained, "The victim's statement, suspect's statement, and internal investigation closure report prepared by the investigator in charge of this case are official documents," adding, "It has been confirmed that despite checking the black box footage, the investigator falsely recorded in the official documents that there was no black box footage, and falsely recorded the case as a simple assault case despite it being a violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes."

They further added, "It is also recognized that the investigator used these falsified official documents to report to superiors, and intentionality is acknowledged."

The Action Alliance for Establishing the Rule of Law (Beopse-ryeon) also filed a complaint with the Supreme Prosecutors' Office on the same day, accusing the vice minister of instructing evidence destruction.

Beopse-ryeon stated, "The black box footage capturing the assault scene is key evidence for applying assault charges under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, so the vice minister's remark to the taxi driver, 'How about deleting the footage?' clearly constitutes instigating evidence destruction," emphasizing, "If the footage is deleted, it could significantly hinder the investigation, so the vice minister's request to the taxi driver cannot be tolerated as part of exercising his defense rights related to his criminal case."

Meanwhile, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency released a statement the previous day saying, "It has been partially confirmed that Officer A, the investigator in charge at Seocho Police Station, checked the black box footage on November 11 last year, and the situation is being investigated."

The police placed Officer A on administrative leave and, under the direction of the National Investigation Headquarters, formed a joint fact-finding and investigation team consisting of 13 members led by the head of the Seoul Police Agency's investigation department. The team has begun its investigation. The investigation team plans to examine the timing when Officer A became aware of the existence of the black box footage and whether the Seocho Police Station team leader, section chief, and chief were informed, among other raised suspicions.

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