Police: "Seocho Station Aware That Taxi Driver Assault by Lee Yong-gu Involved a 'Prominent Figure'"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] It has been confirmed that when the Seocho Police Station in Seoul was investigating Vice Minister of Justice Lee Yong-gu last November on charges of assaulting a taxi driver, the senior officials at the police station were aware that he was a prominent figure. The case was also transmitted from the Seocho Police Station to the higher authority, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s fact-finding team stated on the 26th, "At that time, the chief of the Seocho Police Station was informed by the Community Safety Division that Vice Minister Lee was being mentioned as one of the candidates for the head of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), and he gave instructions to clarify the evidence relationships." It is said that the head of the Seocho Police Station’s Criminal Division became aware of this fact through internet searches.

Regarding whether the Seocho Police Station reported to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, the fact-finding team explained, "There was no report at all to the investigative department responsible for handling the case," and added, "It was only notified for reference among the staff of another department (Community Safety Division), and no related report was created or reported to the command line." They further stated, "We are thoroughly reviewing whether Vice Minister Lee’s identity was recognized, whether it was reported to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, and whether there were any external requests or pressures, and the investigation is expected to be completed soon."

Earlier, the police had stated that when the Seocho Police Station investigated Vice Minister Lee, they only knew he was a lawyer and had no knowledge of his specific career background.

On November 6 last year, then-lawyer Lee, intoxicated, took a taxi and upon arriving in front of his apartment in Seocho-gu, grabbed the collar of the taxi driver who was trying to wake him up, leading to a report. However, the police did not book Vice Minister Lee, citing that the victim did not want the perpetrator to be punished, and closed the case as an internal investigation. 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, and since January last year, when the Corruption Investigation Office Act was passed by the National Assembly, he concurrently served as the head of the Ministry of Justice’s CIO launch preparation team, being mentioned as one of the candidates for the first CIO chief.

After the taxi driver assault case became known belatedly, suspicions arose that the police conducted a "lenient investigation" by applying assault charges under the Criminal Act, which requires the victim’s consent to prosecute, instead of applying the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (Special Act). Since the end of January this year, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency has formed a fact-finding team to investigate these suspicions. So far, they have secured and are finalizing the analysis of over 7,000 call records of Vice Minister Lee, the investigation team at the time, and the reporting line personnel.

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

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