Yeo: "Suspicion of Presidential Office Pressure Revealed"... Special Prosecutor Bill Proposed Regarding Chae Sang-byeong Case

"Standing Committee Current Issue Questions and Government Questions Still Fail to Resolve Concealment Suspicions"
Opposition: "President's Veto Exercise Admits Suspicions of External Pressure"

The Democratic Party of Korea on the 7th proposed a special prosecutor (special investigation) law to the National Assembly regarding the ‘Sergeant Chae case investigation interference suspicion.’

The Democratic Party’s Marine Corps Death Incident Fact-Finding Task Force (TF) and Democratic Party members of the National Assembly’s National Defense Committee (NDC) and Legislation and Judiciary Committee (LJC) held a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Hall in Yeouido, Seoul, in the afternoon and announced this.

Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers are holding a press conference on the 7th at the National Assembly to propose a special prosecutor law for investigating the obstruction of investigation and concealment of incidents related to the death of a Marine in the line of duty.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

In the read press release, they claimed that various attempts to interfere in the investigation related to Sergeant Chae’s death case are being revealed. They stated, “Regarding the Marine Corps member’s line-of-duty death accident, senior officials of the Presidential Office and the Ministry of National Defense are suspected of obstructing the fact-finding by distorting and concealing the incident,” adding, “Senior officials from the National Security Office and the Ministry of National Defense not only obstructed the investigation team from transferring the investigation results to the police but also illegally retrieved records that the Marine Corps military police had lawfully transferred to the National Police Agency. In this process, suspicions of presidential pressure have even been raised.”

They continued, “Even the arrest warrant request was so hastily prepared that it included laughable expressions such as ‘Director Park destroyed evidence by disclosing materials to the media,’ along with detailed descriptions of pressure tactics by ministers and others, revealing numerous problems,” and criticized, “The Ministry of National Defense and the Yoon Suk-yeol administration are not trying to clarify the facts to the public but are instead framing innocent soldiers.”

They added, “The time for truth is approaching,” and warned the government and ruling party, “Since the suspicions of investigation interference and concealment by the Yoon Suk-yeol administration and the Ministry of National Defense have not been clarified through the National Defense Committee’s urgent inquiries, the Legislation and Judiciary Committee’s urgent inquiries, and the interpellation of the government, no one can deny the necessity of a special prosecutor now.”

The special prosecutor law they proposed targets investigations related to Sergeant Chae’s death case, including the Presidential Office, Ministry of National Defense (Military Prosecutor’s Office, Military Legal Affairs Office, Investigation Headquarters, etc.), Marine Corps Command, and Gyeongbuk Provincial Police Agency.

Regarding the special prosecutor, the Korean Bar Association recommends four candidates, then the negotiation groups not affiliated with the president recommend two candidates, and the president appoints one from among them.

When asked about the response plan if the ruling party opposes the special prosecutor promotion or if the president exercises a veto on the special prosecutor law, they pressured, saying, “Isn’t the fact-finding of this case currently very important?” and “If President Yoon Suk-yeol exercises a veto, it would be an admission of the interference suspicion.”

Democratic Party lawmaker Ki Dong-min emphasized, “If former investigation team leader Park Jeong-hoon is unfairly accused of insubordination and pressure to cover up the truth, it will be seen that the fairness and common sense of the Yoon Suk-yeol government have died,” and warned, “This is a signal of the downfall of the Yoon Suk-yeol regime, and we will reveal the truth and proceed with the investigation through a special prosecutor, etc.”

The Democratic Party also strongly criticized in a briefing right after the Supreme Council meeting the previous day, saying, “Regarding the Marine Corps Sergeant Chae death case, suspicions of the Presidential Office’s involvement and concealment are increasingly emerging,” and “Accordingly, there are rumors of the replacement of the Minister of National Defense. The Minister of National Defense should not be replaced but dismissed.”

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