Police Investigate Lee Yong-gu for 19 Hours Over 'Taxi Driver Assault'... Six Months After Incident

After being summoned for investigation on charges including instructing evidence destruction following the 'taxi driver assault' incident, Lee Yong-gu, Deputy Minister of Justice, is leaving the Anti-Corruption and Public Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in the early morning of the 31st.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] Lee Yong-gu, the Deputy Minister of Justice, who is suspected of assaulting a taxi driver and attempting to destroy evidence to cover it up, underwent a 19-hour police investigation. It has been six months since the incident.

Deputy Minister Lee appeared at the Anti-Corruption and Public Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in Mapo-gu, Seoul, around 8 a.m. on the 30th. He returned home at approximately 3:20 a.m. on the 31st, after 19 hours of questioning. When boarding the black Mercedes-Benz sedan he arrived in, he did not respond to reporters' questions.

Deputy Minister Lee was reported to the police for allegedly assaulting a taxi driver by grabbing the driver's collar just before getting off the taxi while intoxicated on November 6 of last year. This was about three weeks before he was appointed as Deputy Minister of Justice. The police closed the case without formally charging him, citing that the victim did not wish to press charges.

After the assault became public, controversy arose over a 'lenient investigation.' In January of this year, the police formed a fact-finding team to investigate the allegations, including analyzing phone records of those involved in the investigation. A representative from the Seocho Police Station, which handled the case, claimed that they only knew Deputy Minister Lee was a lawyer at the time of the investigation. However, it was revealed that senior officials at Seocho Police Station were aware that he was mentioned as one of the initial candidates for the first head of the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office.

Deputy Minister Lee expressed his intention to resign on the 28th, stating that "a new worker is needed." This comes about six months after his appointment as Deputy Minister in December of last year.

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