Prosecutors' Office Trapped in Allegations of 'False Excuses for Warrant Shopping'

"No Record of Request to Central District Court" Amid Suspicions of Reapplying for Warrant at Western District Court
'Warrant Shopping' False Explanation Exposed
Changed Explanation Amid Falsehood Controversy... Escalates into Trust Issues for Investigative Agency

The controversy over the false explanations by the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Agency (Gong-su-cheo) regarding the issuance of a warrant related to President Yoon Seok-yeol continues. When the president's legal team raised the so-called 'warrant shopping suspicion,' alleging that Gong-su-cheo concealed the fact that the warrant was dismissed and re-applied to a court where issuance would be easier, Gong-su-cheo issued a 'clarification.' However, in the process, facts that rather supported the suspicion emerged, putting them in a more difficult situation. Issues of trust in the investigative agency are also being raised.

Yonhap News

Recently, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office conducted a raid on Gong-su-cheo. Although it was in response to a complaint requesting an investigation into Gong-su-cheo's concealment of the warrant dismissal, the search warrant listed three Gong-su-cheo officials, including Director Oh Dong-woon, as suspects, and included charges of hiding official documents and forging and using false official documents.

The warrant shopping suspicion originally arose from Gong-su-cheo requesting a warrant from the Western District Court, which is not the jurisdictional Seoul Central District Court, during the investigation of President Yoon by Gong-su-cheo. The issue seemed to subside as President Yoon was detained and impeachment proceedings began. Director Oh Dong-woon testified before the National Assembly that they had never requested a warrant from any other court. However, on the 21st of last month, President Yoon's legal team held an emergency press conference, reigniting the issue by stating that among the 70,000 pages of investigation records, there was evidence that Gong-su-cheo had requested a warrant from the Seoul Central District Court.

In response, Gong-su-cheo immediately issued a statement admitting, "There was a fact that a warrant was requested from the Seoul Central District Court." They stated, "We requested a search warrant for President Yoon Seok-yeol and four others as suspects, and communication warrants for 32 people including Yoon Seok-yeol." This was a complete reversal of Director Oh's earlier denial.

It was further revealed that Gong-su-cheo gave false answers to written questions from Representative Joo Jin-woo of the People Power Party. On January 12, Representative Joo asked Gong-su-cheo whether they had ever requested search or communication warrants from the Central District Court related to President Yoon Seok-yeol's case. Three days later, Gong-su-cheo sent a written response stating that they had never requested a warrant from the Central District Court for President Yoon. Regarding this, Director Oh Dong-woon excused the mistake at the National Assembly's special investigation committee hearing, saying, "An employee dispatched from another agency, who was not a legal expert, misunderstood the question as being about an arrest warrant and thus gave an incorrect answer," blaming the 'dispatched employee.'

Regarding the prosecution's raid, Gong-su-cheo stated, "We believe that all suspicions related to warrants raised by President Yoon's legal team or political circles have been resolved." However, with suspicions arising that Gong-su-cheo may have tampered with investigation records to conceal the 'warrant shopping' or the fact that the Seoul Central District Court dismissed the warrant, questions are being raised about what suspicions have actually been resolved. A lawyer formerly with the prosecution said, "Gong-su-cheo's judgment and response are very disappointing," adding, "Every time they explain, it sounds like a 'disembodied rhetoric' (eojetae-ilal hwabeop)."

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