On the morning of the 4th, Commandant of the Marine Corps Kim Gye-hwan entered the High-ranking Public Officials Crime Investigation Office (Airborne Investigation Office) at the Gwacheon Government Complex to receive an investigation into suspicions of external pressure in the investigation into the death of Marine Corps Corporal Chaemo. yunhap news
The High-ranking Public Officials Crime Investigation Office, which is investigating the ‘Corporal Chae case’, summoned Marine Corps Commander Kim Gye-hwan (Lieutenant General) on the 4th and conducted a high-intensity investigation for about 15 hours. Commander Kim is the person who was pointed out as having conveyed to former Marine Corps Investigation Team leader (Colonel) Park Jeong-hoon that ‘VIP (President Yoon Seok-yeol) was furious’ regarding the results of the Marine Corps Investigation Team’s initial investigation into the death of Corporal Chae. As the Corruption Investigation Office investigates Commander Kim to unravel the suspicion of involvement in the President’s Office, the future investigation is expected to be directed to the highest levels, including the Ministry of National Defense.
The 4th investigation department of the Corruption Investigation Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Dae-hwan) investigated Commander Kim the previous day as a suspect on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of the exercise of rights. Commander Kim, who participated in the investigation without a lawyer, returned home after completing the investigation around 0:25 a.m. on the 5th, 14 hours and 45 minutes later. Commander Kim did not answer reporters’ questions, such as ‘Have you ever told Colonel Park Jeong-hoon that the VIP was furious?’
Commander Kim, along with former Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-seop and Ministry of National Defense legal affairs officer Yoo Jae-eun, are considered key suspects in the external pressure case investigating Corporal Chae. Commander Kim, the highest commanding officer of the Marine Corps, is suspected of being involved in exerting external pressure on Colonel Park, who was in charge of the initial investigation into the death of Corporal Chae in July and August of last year. Colonel Park, who was leading the Marine Corps investigation team at the time, attempted to transfer eight executives, including former Marine Corps 1st Division commander Lim Seong-geun, to the police on charges of occupational manslaughter related to the death of Corporal Chae, but Commander Kim ordered the transfer to be put on hold.
Commander Kim is also pointed out as a link with higher-ups such as the President’s Office and the Ministry of National Defense. Regarding the results of the initial investigation by the Marine Corps investigation team in July of last year, which charged former division commander Lim with occupational negligence manslaughter, he said, “The Ministry of National Defense is telling me to omit the details of the consultant and the charges from the police handover document,” and “At a meeting in the President’s Office, the VIP (President) Colonel Park claims that he told Colonel Park, “This is what happened after I spoke with the Minister of National Defense in anger.” It is reported that Commander Kim spoke on the phone with Park Jin-hee, military aide to the Minister of National Defense, and Secretary to the National Security Office Lim Ki-hoon before and after putting the transfer on hold.
It is reported that the Corruption Investigation Office investigated Commander Kim to determine the authenticity of his ‘presidential fury’ remark and what instructions he received from his superiors, including former Minister Lee.
The Corruption Investigation Office has recently been speeding up the investigation by investigating key suspects one after another. Previously, manager Yoo Jae-eun was investigated twice on the 26th and 29th of last month. Officer Yoo is suspected of interfering with the investigation, such as ordering ‘not to identify the suspects and the details of the charges when transferring them to the police’ in relation to the eight suspects of occupational manslaughter in the death of Corporal Chae, who were identified by the Marine Corps investigation team in July and August of last year. . On the 2nd, the Corruption Investigation Office also investigated Park Kyung-hoon, former acting head of the Ministry of National Defense’s investigation headquarters. Former Acting Director Park is the head of the investigation headquarters where the Ministry of National Defense prosecutors reviewed the investigative data on the corporal’s death incident recovered from the police in August last year, reduced the number of suspects to two and re-transferred them to the police.
The investigation by the Corruption Investigation Office is expected to extend to higher-ups in the Ministry of National Defense, including former Vice Minister of National Defense Shin Beom-cheol and former Minister Lee. It is expected that this will lead to an investigation of officials in the President’s Office, including Lee Si-won, the Presidential Office’s secretary for public service discipline, who has evidence of phone calls with Manager Yoo.
