Chae Sang-byeong Special Prosecutor, Second Reference Investigation of Park Jeong-hoon on the 31st

[Financial News] The Chae Sang-byeong Special Prosecutor Team (Lee Myeong-hyeon Special Prosecutor) will summon Park Jeong-hoon, the Marine Corps Investigation Team Leader (Colonel), again as a reference on the 31st.
The Special Prosecutor Team announced on the afternoon of the 24th through a media notice that "the schedule for Colonel Park's reference investigation has been changed to 1:30 PM on the 31st." Colonel Park had previously appeared as a reference to the Special Prosecutor on the 16th and testified about the circumstances of investigation pressure for about 5 hours.
Colonel Park is the person who exposed that former Marine Corps Commander Kim Gye-hwan told him, "VIP (former President Yoon Seok-yeol) said, 'If you punish a division commander for such a thing, who will become a division commander?'" Former Commander Kim initially denied the rumor of VIP's anger, but admitted to hearing the related content during the pre-arrest suspect interrogation (warrant review).
As Colonel Park's testimony regarding the rumor of VIP's anger gains credibility, the Special Prosecutor Team plans to focus on examining the investigation situation and the circumstances of external pressure at the time of the Chae Marine Corps death incident during this second investigation.
Former President Yoon is accused of exerting external pressure on the investigation after receiving a report on the initial investigation results of the death incident during a National Security Office meeting presided over by the President at 11 AM on July 31, 2023.
The Special Prosecutor Team recently secured testimonies acknowledging former President Yoon's anger from Kim Tae-hyo, former First Deputy Director of the National Security Office, Wang Yun-jong, former Economic Security Secretary, and Lee Chung-myeon, former Foreign Affairs Secretary, who attended the meeting at the time.
Based on this, the Special Prosecutor plans to investigate what follow-up measures were discussed within the Marine Corps Command according to the instructions to withhold transfer by former Defense Minister Lee Jong-seop and the request to delete suspects by former Defense Ministry Legal Manager Yoo Jae-eun.
Meanwhile, Lee Jong-ho, former CEO of Black Pearl Invest, who is suspected of lobbying for rescue, visited the Special Prosecutor Team's office on this day to proceed with some seizure return procedures.  

scottchoi15@fnnews.com Choi Eun-sol Reporter