Police Special Investigation Unit for Three Major Special Prosecutors Disbands; 16 Cases, Including Allegations of a 'Yoon Yacht Party,' Sent to Prosecutors

[Financial News] The police special investigation headquarters handling cases handed over by the three major special prosecutors will be disbanded eight months after its launch. The unit said it had closed investigations into 121 of the cases received from the three special prosecutors, and sent 16 of them to prosecutors.
The Police Special Investigation Headquarters for cases handed over by the three major special prosecutors, led by Kim Bo-jun, said on the 28th that it would end operations and shift to a dedicated task force headed by Kang Il-gu to continue investigating the remaining cases.
The unit was launched on Dec. 1 last year to investigate cases handed over by the three special prosecutors. After taking over a total of 192 cases, it merged overlapping ones and reclassified them into 137 cases. It then deployed up to 109 personnel and carried out intensive investigations for about eight months. As a result, it closed 121 cases, including 16 sent to prosecutors, 54 transferred to other agencies, and 51 not sent or not formally opened.
During the process, investigators questioned 46 suspects 62 times and 209 witnesses 220 times, and carried out 16 searches and seizures. The unit said it had achieved results by proving a number of criminal allegations that had not been clarified in the special prosecutor investigations.
In particular, it sent former Chief of Staff Chung Jin-suk, former presidential office general affairs secretary Yoon Jae-soon, and former chief of the First Presidential Aide Office Kang Eui-gu to prosecutors on charges including abuse of authority and destruction of evidence. They were accused of leading the erasure of PCs at the presidential office and the presidential residence to help conceal the insurrection case.
Shin Yong-hae, former commissioner general of the Correction Bureau at the Ministry of Justice, was also referred to prosecutors on charges of participating in an important role in the insurrection after ordering the securing of detention space for people who violated the martial law decree. It was the first time that a senior civilian official, rather than a military or police officer, had been criminally processed over alleged involvement in the emergency martial law.
Among the cases handed over by the Special Prosecutor for Kim Keon-hee, investigators looked into allegations that the People Power Party membership list for the Seocho-gap district in the Seoul by-election for the 21st National Assembly in 2022 had been leaked. As a result, lawmaker Jo Eun-hee was sent to prosecutors on charges of violating the Personal Information Protection Act and the Political Funds Act, while Myeong Tae-gyun was referred on charges of violating the Personal Information Protection Act.
The unit also conducted a full reinvestigation of the so-called "Jodo yacht party case," which had been deemed unclear in substance at the special prosecutor stage. In the process, it secured multiple internal statements saying that the leadership of the Presidential Security Service (PSS) abused its authority to privately use military assets for former President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife.
It also obtained a confession-like statement from Kim Yong-hyun, then chief of the Presidential Security Service, during the special prosecutor probe, and identified related allegations. Kim Yong-hyun and Kim Seong-hoon, then head of planning and management at the PSS, were sent to prosecutors on charges including abuse of authority under the Presidential Security Service Act.
In connection with cases handed over by the Special Prosecutor for the Investigation of the Death of a Marine, the unit investigated allegations that Kim Yong-won, a former standing member of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK), forced an NHRCK employee to write a written statement and testify in a specific way. He was referred to prosecutors on attempted coercion charges.
Regarding Lee Jong-ho, former head of Blackpearl Invest and known as an associate of First Lady Kim Keon-hee, the unit confirmed that he received 111.6 million won in exchange for a request for detention related to a complaint case and embezzled 167 million won under the pretext of legal fees and other expenses. He was sent to prosecutors on charges including fraud and violations of the Attorney-at-Law Act.
Investigations into remaining cases will continue even after the unit ends operations. Cases requiring focused investigation will be handled by a dedicated task force under the National Police Agency's Investigation Bureau, while the rest will be wrapped up by the National Police Agency's Security Investigation Unit, where many of the investigators are already assigned.
Kim Bo-jun, head of the special investigation headquarters, said, "It has been eight months since the unit began its work with a strong sense of responsibility, and we carefully reviewed and referred more than 90% of the cases that raised public concern." He added, "I am relieved that we are able to conclude the investigations, and I am grateful to the staff of the special investigation headquarters."
[email protected] Reporter Jang Yu-ha Reporter