Prosecutor Son Junsung in 'Accusation Instigation Suspicion' Appears at Corruption Investigation Office... Second Summons Investigation

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Son Junsung, the Human Rights Protection Officer at Daegu High Prosecutors' Office and a key suspect in the 'accusation bribery' scandal, appeared at the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Unit (HOCI) on the 10th for a summons investigation.

Prosecutor Son appeared at the Gwacheon HOCI building around 9:55 a.m. that day as a suspect and is currently undergoing investigation.

As with the first investigation, he did not respond to the public summons and did not show himself in front of the waiting press. He passed through shielding facilities that concealed his appearance while riding in the HOCI official vehicle and headed to the interrogation room.

Earlier, HOCI first summoned Prosecutor Son for investigation on the 2nd. This is the second time. Attention is focused on whether the second investigation will differ from the first, which reportedly yielded no significant results.

Prosecutor Son is accused of abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights, among other charges, for instructing subordinate prosecutors to draft complaints and collect supporting materials against pro-government figures while serving as the Investigation Information Policy Officer at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in April last year, and sending these to Kim Woong, a member of the People Power Party, thereby bribing the opposition party to file accusations.

On the 5th, HOCI conducted a search and seizure of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Inspection Department and is expected to use the secured materials to pressure Prosecutor Son during the investigation. Among the materials obtained by HOCI is forensic data from the public phone of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office spokesperson, which was seized in a voluntary submission form by the Inspection Department. This raises the possibility that the involvement of Kwon Soonjung, former spokesperson of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office who was registered as a suspect last month, will also be investigated. Furthermore, it is expected that they will question whether Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate, was involved during his tenure as Prosecutor General.

Additionally, HOCI registered an investigation last month on the so-called 'judge surveillance document' illegal drafting allegations against candidate Yoon on the 22nd, drawing attention to whether related investigations will be conducted on this day. The Investigation Information Policy Office, to which Prosecutor Son belonged, is known to have drafted the document at that time and delivered it to the Anti-Corruption & Strong Crime Division and the Public Investigation Division.

However, HOCI finds it burdensome to conduct a rigorous investigation due to a complaint filed by Prosecutor Son's side with the National Human Rights Commission. Prosecutor Son's side strongly opposed the infringement of rights during the process of requesting an arrest warrant and summons investigation by HOCI, and on the 8th filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission against four people including Deputy Chief Yeo Woon-guk of HOCI.

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