Marine Special Prosecutor Indicts Six Including Yoon Over Lee Jong-sup's 'Australia Escape Allegations'

Cho Tae-yong, Park Sung-jae, Shim Woo-jung, Jang Ho-jin, and Lee Si-won Indicted Without Detention
"Yoon Pushed for Lee's Ambassadorial Appointment Fearing Progress in Chae Sang-byeong Investigation"

Former President Yoon Suk-yeol is attending the trial on charges of obstructing special official duties held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-dong, Seoul, on the 26th.

Six individuals, including former President Yoon Seok-yeol, have been indicted in connection with allegations that former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup fled to Australia.

On November 27, the special prosecutor's team investigating the death of Chae Sang-byeong indicted former President Yoon without detention on charges of harboring a criminal, abuse of authority, and violation of the National Public Officials Act. Also indicted were former National Security Advisor Cho Tae-yong, former Justice Minister Park Sung-jae, former Vice Justice Minister Shim Woo-jung, former First Vice Foreign Minister Jang Ho-jin, and former Presidential Secretary for Public Discipline Lee Si-won.

The suspicion of flight arose when former Minister Lee, a key suspect in the investigation into external pressure on the probe into Chae Sang-byeong's death and under investigation by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, was suddenly appointed as ambassador to Australia and departed the country in March last year. Although he was under a travel ban, the restriction was lifted just four days after his ambassadorial appointment, allowing him to leave for his post. However, as domestic public opinion worsened, he returned to Korea after just 11 days.

According to the special prosecutor's team, former President Yoon is accused of ordering the ambassadorial appointment of Lee on November 19, 2023-four months after Chae Sang-byeong's death-in order to facilitate Lee's escape to Australia. The special prosecutor's team determined that Yoon pushed for the appointment to block the investigation from progressing to himself, fearing that he would become a target if the probe into Lee advanced.

The special prosecutor's team believes that, following Yoon's instructions, the Presidential Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Justice were all deeply involved in Lee's ambassadorial appointment and departure process.

According to the special prosecutor's team, former National Security Advisor Cho Tae-yong, acting on Yoon's orders, instructed former Vice Minister Jang Ho-jin in December 2023 to begin the process of sending Lee to Australia as ambassador by January 2024, and Jang carried out these instructions as directed.

The personnel verification procedures by the Ministry of Justice and the Office of the Presidential Secretary for Public Discipline were effectively omitted. It was found that former Secretary Lee Si-won approved a verification report from the Public Discipline Office that had been altered to favor Lee, thereby passing the personnel verification as "no issues found."

Subsequently, former Justice Minister Park Sung-jae, through former Vice Minister Shim Woo-jung, ordered the lifting of Lee's travel ban, and the Ministry of Justice lifted the ban on March 8 last year.

The special prosecutor's team stated that Lee Jae-yu, then Director-General of Immigration and Foreign Policy at the Ministry of Justice, who relayed the order to lift the travel ban from the Minister and Vice Minister, was granted a suspension of indictment due to his full cooperation during the investigation.

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