'Kim Hak-ui Illegal Departure' Lee Gwang-cheol Denies Charges in First Trial

Kwang-chul Lee, Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs at the Blue House Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The former Blue House Civil Affairs Secretary Lee Gwangcheol, who was indicted for leading the illegal travel ban process against former Deputy Minister of Justice Kim Hak-ui, denied the charges at the first trial.

On the 13th at 2 p.m., the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 27 (Presiding Judge Kim Seonil) held the first pretrial hearing for former Secretary Lee, who was indicted on charges of abuse of authority and obstruction of rights.

Recently, the court decided to consolidate this case with the cases of Cha Gyugeun, a research fellow at the Legal Research and Training Institute, and Prosecutor Lee Gyuwon, who were previously tried in connection with the 'Kim Hak-ui illegal travel ban' case. Defendants who were not obligated to attend the pretrial hearing did not appear in court that day.

In court, the defense attorney for former Secretary Lee stated, "We deny the charges," but said they would review the evidence and records before presenting specific opinions.

Earlier, former Secretary Lee was indicted for leading the illegal travel ban by coordinating between the previously indicted Cha and Prosecutor Lee after learning of former Deputy Minister Kim's attempted departure on March 22, 2019, while serving as a senior administrative officer in the Blue House Civil Affairs Office.

Prosecutor Lee is accused of blocking Kim's departure on March 22, 2019, when Kim, suspected of sexual bribery and bribery, attempted a late-night departure, by using an emergency travel ban request written with a past case number that had been cleared of charges, and of listing a non-existent investigation number on the subsequent approval request.

Research Fellow Cha is accused of approving the travel ban request the next day, knowing that Prosecutor Lee had illegally imposed the emergency travel ban on former Deputy Minister Kim. He is also accused of receiving reports on over a hundred occasions about Kim's personal information, such as name and date of birth, through officials from the Ministry of Justice's Immigration Inspection Division.

The court scheduled another pretrial hearing on September 17 at 2:20 p.m. and decided to begin the full trial thereafter.

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