Kim Byung-joo "Allegations of Investigation Interference in Corporal Chae Case Must Go to Special Prosecutor"

Democratic Party Lawmaker Kim Byung-joo KBS Radio Interview

Regarding the controversy over the death of the late Corporal Chae Su-geun of the Marine Corps, Kim Byung-joo, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, argued, "The police are only investigating the Corporal Chae Su-geun case and cannot investigate the mutiny and other matters, so a special investigation is necessary."

Kim, the opposition party's secretary of the National Defense Committee in the National Assembly, appeared on KBS Radio's 'Choi Kyung-young's Strongest Current Affairs' on the 22nd and said, regarding the full meeting held the previous day to question the Ministry of National Defense about the Corporal Chae case, "The suspicions have intensified," adding, "The statements from the minister and vice minister are all different, and the explanations are confused, so I felt even more strongly that a special investigation is absolutely necessary."

Kim Byung-joo, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

He said, "It was revealed in the National Defense Committee that the investigation is extremely sloppy and unreasonable," and added, "For example, isn't the biggest issue here the collective mutiny?"

He continued, "The Ministry of National Defense charged Colonel Park Jeong-hoon with the crime of leading a collective mutiny, and initially charged two others with collective mutiny and conducted a search and seizure, didn't they?" He said, "When I asked the Minister of National Defense on what grounds they considered it collective mutiny and immediately conducted the search and seizure related to this case, they gave a very absurd explanation."

Kim said, "They called three people at that time, but they did not answer the calls," and added, "So they assumed that some kind of conspiracy was taking place somewhere and charged them with the crime of leading a collective mutiny. Does that make any sense?"

He then pointed out, "In general, if such an incident occurs, the individuals first go as witnesses for sufficient investigation, and after some time, they are changed to suspects, and then searches and seizures may be conducted," adding, "Immediately labeling Colonel Park as the ringleader of the collective mutiny and conducting a search and seizure without any evidence proves how unreasonable, excessive, and sloppy this investigation is, which only intensifies the suspicions."

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