Yoo Sang-beom: "The Chaesang-byeong Case, Problems Arise from Not Following the Order to Postpone Transfer"

Yoo Sang-beom, Senior Spokesperson of the People Power Party, CBS Radio Interview

Regarding the controversy over the investigation into the death of the late Marine Corporal Chae Su-geun, Yoo Sang-beom, the senior spokesperson for the People Power Party, said, "(The Minister of National Defense) gave an order to withhold the transfer, and if that order had been followed, no problems would have occurred."

Spokesperson Yoo appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' on the 22nd and said, "It's not about emphasizing the order to review or the order to withhold, nor is it about criticizing that itself. That can naturally happen, and the problem arises when that order is disobeyed," he said.

Earlier, Park Jung-hoon, former head of the Marine Corps investigation team (Colonel), was booked by the military prosecution on charges of insubordination while investigating Corporal Chae's case. The Ministry of National Defense received an order from Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-seop to withhold the transfer to the police and conveyed the order to Colonel Park, but Park is said to have disobeyed the withholding order and proceeded with the transfer. Colonel Park claimed that the transfer to the police followed a lawful process and alleged that there was pressure from higher-ups to downplay the case.

Yoo Sang-beom, Chief Spokesperson of the People Power Party. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

Regarding the background of the reversal of the Minister of National Defense's approval for the transfer, Spokesperson Yoo said, "Even if the approver approves all work processes, if another opinion arises after approval, the procedure can be stopped before it is fully implemented. In other words, even if the prosecutor submits approval to prosecute the case, and the chief and the head prosecutor approve it, before the formal indictment is filed, if further review is needed, additional orders to withhold or further investigation can be issued," he emphasized.

He continued, "However, this incident occurred because the order was not followed, and despite three instructions, the individual completely ignored them and insisted on carrying out the transfer according to his own will. The withholding order itself is not wrong," he said.

Regarding the claim that reducing the case after already explaining the report to Corporal Chae's bereaved family could lead to abuse of authority charges, Yoo said, "That is a wrong statement," and pointed out, "The minister clearly said that after returning from a business trip, he would review the case and ordered to withhold the transfer. There was no instruction to downplay or exclude anything during the investigation process. Colonel Park Jung-hoon is distorting the essence."

Regarding the controversy over the leak of confidential information after Kim Eui-gyeom, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, appeared holding documents that appeared to be investigation records and questioned, Yoo pointed out, "Investigation records were leaked."

Spokesperson Yoo said, "There is a statement that 'the speed of the disturbance was as fast as landscaping,' which is reading from the testimony record. If Representative Kim had actively demanded the investigation team leader or someone to provide materials to him so that he could disclose them to the media, this would involve consideration of complicity," he said.

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