The Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office conducted a search and seizure on the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on the 25th. Officials at the government complex in Sejong, the Ministry of Industry and Energy, are busy working. 2022.3.25 Yonhap News” style=”padding:0px;margin:0px”>
▲ Prosecutors’ search and seizure by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy
The Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office conducted a search and seizure on the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on the 25th. Officials at the government complex in Sejong, the Ministry of Industry and Energy, are busy working. 2022.3.25 Yonhap News
At the beginning of the Moon Jae-in government’s inauguration, the 6th Criminal Division (Chief Hyung-won Choi) of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office investigating the case of the ‘Ministry of Industry blacklist’ that the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy had forced the resignation of the head of an agency affiliated to oppose the nuclear phase-out policy, Korea Midland Power and South-East Power , Korea Southern Power Co., Ltd., and Korea Western Power Co., Ltd. seized and searched four subsidiaries of KEPCO.
It has been three days since the Ministry of Industry inside the government complex in Sejong was raided and searched on the 25th for a related investigation. When the prosecution speeded up the investigation of the accusation three years ago during the power change period, Justice Minister Park Beom-gye met with a reporter on the way to work and responded, “It’s very fast.”
On the same day, the prosecution sent prosecutors and investigators to the executive offices of the headquarters of each power generation subsidiary to secure related data. The prosecution plans to focus on analyzing the confiscated data and revealing whether the resignation request was real. After the investigation of evidence, it is expected that four former and current officials of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy will be summoned and investigated, including former Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Baek Un-gyu, accused of abuse of power and obstruction of the exercise of rights.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade’s blacklist incident was triggered in January 2019 when the Liberty Korea Party, the predecessor of the People’s Power, accused former Minister Baek and others. The opposition party said, “At the beginning of September 2017, South-East Power President Jang Jae-won and Korea Western Power President Jung Ha-hwang, who had two years and two months remaining in office, and South-East Power President Yoon Jong-geun and Korea Midland Power President Jung Chang-gil, whose tenure was 1 year and 4 months remaining, The presidents submitted their collective resignations under pressure from the Ministry of Industry.” After that, the prosecution summoned the president of the subsidiary and secured a statement, but the forced investigation, such as a search and seizure of the accused, is ongoing three years and two months after the accusation.
An official from the prosecution explained, “We have been conducting the investigation in accordance with the laws and principles, and we are continuing the investigation into this case by reviewing the Supreme Court’s final judgment in similar cases.”
Kim Eun-kyung, the former Minister of Environment, who was implicated in a similar case in the Ministry of Environment’s blacklist case and was handed over to trial, mentioned the fact that the Supreme Court in January was sentenced to two years in prison for abuse of power and obstruction of business.
At the Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office, documents related to the blacklist of public institutions under the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Unification, and the Ministry of Education are also known to be awaiting disposition.
Correspondent Choi Young-kwon
