Police Decide Not to Refer Kim Keon Hee Special Prosecutor Team Over Alleged Coercive Investigation of Yangpyeong Official

[Financial News] Police have decided not to refer the Kim Keon Hee Special Prosecutor Team, led by Special Counsel Min Joung-kie, for prosecution over allegations that it conducted a coercive investigation in connection with the death of an official from Yangpyeong County Office.
According to police and other sources on the 16th, Seoul Jongno Police Station dismissed on the 10th a complaint filed by the People Power Party against Min Joung-kie’s team on charges including abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights.
Dismissal means closing a case after determining that there is no need to proceed with the investigation before making a substantive determination as to whether the complaint contains evidence of a crime. Police reportedly concluded that there was insufficient evidence to determine that the special prosecutor team forced A to make false statements or conducted the questioning coercively.
The allegations of coercive investigation emerged after a 57-year-old official from Yangpyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do, who was being investigated by the special prosecutor team, died. He was found dead at his home eight days after being questioned by the team as a suspect on October 10 last year in connection with allegations of preferential treatment in the development of Yangpyeong Gongheung District. A returned home after being questioned from around 10 a.m. until midnight on the second of the same month. He reportedly later left a handwritten note saying, "Even when I tell them the truth—that I don't know or don't remember—they keep pressuring me," and, "Even when I tell the truth, they say it's a lie."
Separately, Seoul Jongno Police Station also decided not to refer for prosecution a complaint filed by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) against an investigator from Min Joung-kie’s team for abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights.
Police reportedly questioned the investigator as a suspect and concluded that there was no evidence sufficient to substantiate the allegations. Regarding aspects in which the facts overlapped with the complaint previously filed by the People Power Party, police reportedly dismissed the NHRCK complaint based on findings confirmed during their investigation of that case. In December last year, the NHRCK conducted an ex officio investigation into whether human rights violations had occurred during the special prosecutor team’s investigation into A’s death and subsequently requested that police investigate the matter.
[email protected] Seo Ji-yoon Reporter