Police Secure and Analyze All Mobile Phones of Seocho Police Station Officials Related to the 'Iyonggu Incident'

Photo by Mun Ho-nam, Seocho Police Station archive. / Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] Regarding the assault incident involving Deputy Minister of Justice Lee Yong-gu and a taxi driver, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Joint Fact-Finding Investigation Team for Audit and Investigation, which is probing allegations of ignoring the black box footage, announced that they have secured and are analyzing all mobile phones used by the investigation subjects before and after the incident.

On the 10th, the investigation team stated, "We have voluntarily collected and are conducting forensic analysis on all mobile phones used by four subjects, including the investigators from Seocho Police Station, from the time of the incident until now."

It was confirmed that Officer A from Seocho Police Station, who was in charge of the investigation, replaced his personal mobile phone just before submitting it to the investigation team at the end of last month. Regarding this, a police official explained, "He stated that the previous phone was old and was recently replaced," adding, "We have also secured the previous personal mobile phone and are conducting forensic analysis on it."

Deputy Minister Lee assaulted a taxi driver who tried to wake him up while he was intoxicated in front of his apartment in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on November 6 last year. However, the police closed the case as a preliminary investigation, applying the charge of assault, which is a crime subject to non-prosecution by victim's withdrawal, citing the absence of black box footage proving Lee's crime and the fact that he reached a settlement with the taxi driver.

However, controversy arose after allegations surfaced that Officer A, the investigator in charge, ignored the black box footage showing the situation at the time. The police recently placed Officer A on standby and formed a 13-member fact-finding investigation team to conduct the inquiry. The team is investigating the taxi driver and the black box company president, while also securing and analyzing the mobile phones and PCs of eight police officers, including the Seocho Police Station chief, department heads, and team leaders at the time.

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