Prosecutors: "Long-term Search and Seizure? Delayed Due to Gyeonggi-do's Non-cooperation"

The Suwon District Prosecutors' Office recently issued a statement regarding criticism over its three-week-long search and seizure operation in Gyeonggi Province, stating that "the delay in the search and seizure was due to non-cooperation from the Gyeonggi Province side despite the execution of a lawful warrant."

Suwon District Prosecutors' Office Photo by Yonhap News

On the morning of the 17th, the prosecution stated, "Although the prosecutors' investigators have been conducting their work at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government office to respect the province's operations and provide maximum convenience, the process has been prolonged due to non-cooperation from the Gyeonggi Province side."

They further emphasized, "The search and seizure at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government office is the execution of a warrant issued by a judge related to cases such as the North Korea remittance incident that occurred during the tenure of the former governor, and it has no relation whatsoever to the current Gyeonggi provincial administration."

Regarding claims that "the prosecution occupied offices within the provincial government building for a prolonged search and seizure," they stated, "This is not true," explaining, "The selective procedure to examine the digital materials subject to seizure was initially planned to be conducted at the prosecution office, but the Gyeonggi Province side requested that it be done within the provincial government building, which was accepted." They also added that Gyeonggi Province has refused to decrypt internal messenger server data and submit electronic approval server data.

The prosecution attempted to secure documents related to projects approved by the provincial government and work files exchanged via messenger from 2018 to 2021 in connection with the alleged involvement of former Gyeonggi Peace Deputy Governor Lee Hwa-young in the Ssangbangwool Group's North Korea remittance case (violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act), but stated that they have not yet been able to verify them due to the province's refusal to decrypt the data.

Earlier, the prosecution obtained a search and seizure warrant on charges of violating the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act against former Deputy Governor Lee and conducted a forced investigation at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government office from the 22nd of last month to the 15th of this month. The search and seizure included the governor's office and the governor's PC, and the three-week duration led Gyeonggi Province to strongly protest, calling it an "excessive search and seizure."

On the 16th, Gyeonggi Governor Kim Dong-yeon posted on his social media account a message titled "Dictatorship in the Name of Rule of Law," expressing concern that "we may be entering a new era of dictatorship under the guise of 'rule of law,'" and criticized, "The prosecution claims to be proceeding according to lawful procedures based on the warrant, but it is far from common sense."

He stated, "During this search and seizure period, the prosecution opened 92 PCs and 11 cabinets and took 63,824 documents," adding, "From today, they have only moved the location to the prosecution office but continue to collect materials and summon related staff."

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