In the 'Gobal Saju' Recording, Kim Woong Says "It's My Voice, But I Don't Remember"

Kim Woong, a member of the People Power Party, listened to the recorded phone conversation with Cho Seong-eun, the key evidence in the 'report solicitation' suspicion, in court and said, "The voice is mine, but I do not remember the content."

Kim Woong, Member of the People Power Party [Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 10th, Kim appeared as a witness at the trial of Prosecutor Son Jun-sung on charges including official secret leakage, held under the jurisdiction of the 27th Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Kim Ok-gon).

The recording is of a phone call between Kim and Cho on April 3, 2020. It was the day the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Department pointed out that the first complaint and the real-name judgment document were delivered in the order of Prosecutor Son, Kim, and Cho. The recording included statements such as "We will draft the complaint and send it to you."

When the Public Corruption Investigation Office (PCIO) prosecutor asked who "we" referred to, Kim replied, "It would be 'we' including me and the informant. At that time, the Channel A case-related tip-offs were complex, involving reporters from the Yeouido political department, reporters from Seocho-dong, and senior officials of the Democratic Party," adding, "I do not remember from whom I received the draft complaint."

The PCIO prosecutor asked about the Telegram message tag "Sent by Son Jun-sung" at the time, questioning whether "we" referred to Kim himself and Prosecutor Son, who was then the Investigation Information Policy Officer at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office.

However, Kim said, "The possibility is quite low," and added, "If I had recognized this as coming from the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, my behavior would have been different."

Regarding the part in the recording where he told Cho to submit the complaint to the "(Seoul) Southern District Prosecutors' Office. If not Southern, then (Seoul) Central (District Prosecutors' Office) is a bit risky," Kim claimed, "At that time, I heard from reporters that the Central District Prosecutors' Office was conducting investigations very partisanly," and "It is presumed that I was simply relaying what I heard, not my own judgment."

On correcting the instruction to submit the complaint to the Public Crime Investigation Department of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, he said, "If I had closely consulted with the prosecution, I would have told them to submit it to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office from the beginning."

Regarding the Telegram message left after delivering the complaint to Cho, saying "room explosion," he said, "All politicians do that."

He admitted that he was acquainted with Prosecutor Son but claimed that they had no contact from July 2019, when President Yoon Seok-youl made his first appointment as Prosecutor General, until April 15, 2020, before the general election.

Earlier, the PCIO indicted Prosecutor Son in May last year and judged that Kim was involved as an accomplice. However, due to the lack of direct indictment authority under the PCIO Act, the case was transferred to the prosecution.

Kim was accused of conspiring to form negative public opinion against the ruling party through complaints just before the April 2020 general election and exchanging two complaints and real-name judgment documents regarding ruling party figures, including Choi Kang-wook, then a candidate of the Open Democratic Party.

However, the prosecution did not indict Kim, citing reasons such as insufficient evidence that the complaint was passed from Prosecutor Son to Kim.

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