Yong-gu Lee Visits Seocho Police Station the Day After 'Taxi Driver Assault' Incident to "Collect Lost Items"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] It has been confirmed that Lee Yong-gu, Deputy Minister of Justice, visited the Seoul Seocho Police Station the day after being reported to the police last November for allegedly assaulting a taxi driver during his time as a lawyer.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's fact-finding investigation team on the 28th, CCTV footage from the police station confirmed that Deputy Minister Lee visited the criminal duty team office at Seocho Police Station at around 11:12 a.m. on November 7 last year, received lost property from the duty officer, and left.

The police explained that the time Deputy Minister Lee visited the office was before the investigation of the victim taxi driver took place, and the detective in charge had already left after the night duty.

A police official stated, "The patrol officers who responded to the report handed over the lost property that Deputy Minister Lee left in the taxi to the criminal division along with the case records," adding, "The detective in charge sent a text message to Deputy Minister Lee around 10 a.m. on the 7th requesting his appearance, including a note saying, 'The item left in the taxi will be kept at the criminal duty desk, so please collect it.'"

The detective scheduled Deputy Minister Lee's appearance for 10 a.m. on November 9 last year. However, he did not respond to the summons, and the victim taxi driver submitted a letter of no prosecution to the detective on the same day, leading the police to close the case as an internal investigation. It is known that Deputy Minister Lee did not visit the police station except for giving a statement at the patrol office on the day of the incident.

On November 6 last year, when he was still a lawyer, Deputy Minister Lee was reported after grabbing the collar of a taxi driver who was trying to wake him up in front of his apartment in Seocho-gu after taking a taxi while intoxicated. However, the police did not book Deputy Minister Lee, citing that the victim did not wish to press charges, 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 concurrently served as the head of the Preparatory Team for the establishment of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) at the Ministry of Justice since January last year when the CIO Act was passed in the National Assembly. He was also considered one of the candidates for the first CIO chief.

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 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 investigation team to look into these suspicions. So far, they have secured and are finalizing the analysis of over 7,000 call records of Deputy Minister Lee, the investigation team at the time, and related reporting lines.

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