Seocho Police Station Investigating Taxi Driver Assault by Lee Yong-gu Learned at the Time of a 'Prominent Figure' Fact

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] Circumstantial evidence has emerged that senior officials at the Seocho Police Station in Seoul were aware that Vice Minister of Justice Lee Yong-gu was a prominent figure while investigating him last November on charges of assaulting a taxi driver.

According to the police on the 26th, the joint fact-finding investigation team of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Inspection and Investigation Division reportedly found that the Seocho Police Station officials shared the information that then-lawyer Lee was mentioned as one of the candidates for the inaugural Chief of the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office (Gong-su-cheo). However, the investigation team has not confirmed any direct link between the officials exerting pressure on the officers conducting the investigation and the handling of the case.

Lee, a former judge, served as the head of the Legal Affairs Office at the Ministry of Justice from August 2017 to April last year. From January last year, when the Gong-su-cheo Act was passed by the National Assembly, he concurrently served as the head of the Ministry of Justice's Gong-su-cheo Launch Preparation Team and was considered one of the candidates for the first Chief of Gong-su-cheo.

Shortly after the assault incident surfaced, the police stated that the Seocho Police Station only knew Lee as a lawyer during the investigation and had no knowledge of his detailed background.

On November 6 last year, Lee, who was then a lawyer, reportedly got into a taxi while intoxicated and upon arriving in front of his apartment in Seocho-gu, grabbed the collar of the taxi driver who was trying to wake him, leading to a report. However, the police did not formally charge Lee, closing the case as an internal investigation, citing that the victim did not wish to press charges.

After the taxi driver assault case became public, suspicions arose that the police conducted a 'lenient investigation' by applying assault charges under the Criminal Act, which requires the victim's consent, instead of applying the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (Special Act). Since late January this year, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency has formed a fact-finding investigation team to probe these allegations. So far, they have secured and analyzed over 7,000 call records of Lee and related personnel from the investigation team and reporting lines at the time.

Meanwhile, the prosecution is reinvestigating the case following a complaint from a civic group and has summoned Lee as a suspect for questioning.

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