Lee Jong-seop’s controversy: “I didn’t know about the ban on leaving the country” without apology

by times news cr

2024-05-10 17:05:48

[尹대통령 취임 2주년 회견]

Legal experts say, “We fully expect the suspect to withdraw money.”
Appointment of ambassador without confirmation is a clear problem.”

President Yoon Seok-yeol revealed that he did not know that former Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-seop, a suspect in the ‘suspicion of external pressure in the death of Corporal Chae-mo in the Marine Corps’, was banned from leaving the country when he appointed him as ambassador to Australia. At a press conference held on the 9th to mark the second anniversary of his inauguration, President Yoon said, “Even the government agencies that conduct personnel verification have no knowledge of the departure ban. It is a security matter, and if (the fact of the departure ban) is leaked, you will be subject to criminal punishment.” President Yoon did not express regret or apologize for appointing former Minister Lee as ambassador to Australia.

The investigation into former Minister Lee began in September last year when a complaint was filed with the High-ranking Public Officials Crime Investigation Office. On December 8 of last year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs requested former Minister Lee to submit documents related to personnel verification, and on the same day, the Ministry of Justice banned former Minister Lee from leaving the country at the request of the Corruption Investigation Office. During this process, he failed to realize that there was a three-month ban on leaving the country until March 4th of this year, when former Minister Lee was appointed ambassador to Australia.

It is known that the Ministry of Justice did not notify the President’s Office of former Minister Lee’s ban on leaving the country, and did not confirm whether he was banned from leaving the country when conducting personnel verification on former Minister Lee. The Ministry of Justice’s position is that the departure ban work is handled by the Immigration and Foreigner Policy Headquarters, and personnel verification is handled by the Personnel Information Management Group, but the two departments do not share sensitive information such as whether or not a specific person is banned from leaving the country.

According to the Corruption Investigation Office Act, the President cannot receive any reports from the Corruption Investigation Office, so there is analysis that President Yoon may not have been aware of the ban on former Minister Lee from leaving the country.

However, some in the legal community say, “There is no way President Yoon, an expert in criminal justice, could not have predicted the ban on leaving the country, and if he really did not know, it would be an even bigger problem.” This is because, contrary to President Yoon’s statement that no substantive investigation, including an attendance notice, was conducted against former Minister Lee, the Corruption Investigation Office had begun a mandatory investigation by seizing and searching the Ministry of National Defense and the Marine Corps Command in mid-January of this year. A lawyer who used to be a prosecutor said, “Investigation agencies often ban suspects from leaving the country before and after search and seizure. “It is incomprehensible that President Yoon, who has a lot of experience in investigations, did not anticipate this,” he said, pointing out, “Even if he really did not know, appointing him as ambassador without checking whether he was prohibited from leaving the country is a clear problem.”


Reporter Park Jong-min [email protected]
Reporter Jeon Joo-young [email protected]

#Lee Jong-seop Controversy #Whether to be banned from leaving the country?

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2024-05-10 17:05:48

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