“We decided to jointly review the opinion submitted by Choi Jae-young and, after comprehensively deliberating the opinions of the investigation team and the defense attorney, decided to dismiss all charges against suspect Kim Gun-hee.”
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office’s Investigation Review Committee released the results of its deliberations at around 7:18 p.m. on the 6th. Starting at around 2 p.m. that day, after five hours of discussion, it recommended a non-indictment decision regarding the alleged receipt of a Dior bag by President Yoon Seok-yeol’s wife, Kim Kun-hee.
This case first broke out in November of last year, and has been the subject of much controversy, including the formation of a special investigation team in May, the subsequent large-scale prosecution personnel changes, and the controversy over fairness caused by the closed-door face-to-face investigation of Ms. Kim in July. On the 23rd of last month, Prosecutor General Lee Won-seok abruptly pulled out the card of requesting the convening of the investigation review committee, saying, “It is desirable to tie the knot so that fairness is enhanced and no more controversy remains.” However, political and legal circles point out that even if the prosecution decides not to indict according to the recommendation of the investigation review committee, the controversy could continue in the future, given the various controversies that have arisen during the investigation process.
● Prosecution 70 minutes, Ms. Kim 40 minutes “not guilty”
The investigation review committee, which began at around 2:00 PM that day, was attended by 15 external figures including former Constitutional Court Justice Kang Il-won, who is the chairman, lawyers, and law professors. After distributing 30 pages of A4-sized statements submitted by the prosecution and Ms. Kim, as well as the statement of opinion from Choi Jae-young, who gave Ms. Kim the Dior bag, the investigation review committee held a Q&A session with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office investigation team for 70 minutes starting at around 3:30 PM, and listened to Ms. Kim’s statement for approximately 40 minutes starting at 4:50 PM. After that, the review committee held a closed-door meeting for approximately 2 hours.
The investigation team first emphasized to the deliberation committee that there was no “job-relatedness” to the core charge of violating the Prohibition of Solicitation and Bribery Act related to the suspicion that Ms. Kim received a Dior bag. They said that they cited the fact that the Dior bag that Mr. Choi gave to Ms. Kim in September 2022 had nothing to do with President Yoon’s duties and that various requests by Mr. Choi were not actually delivered to Ms. Kim. Ms. Kim also claimed that “the Dior bag was a congratulatory gift for election that had nothing to do with work,” disclosing KakaoTalk messages in which Mr. Choi said, “It’s not a request or anything like that,” regarding the purpose of giving the Dior bag to Ms. Kim.
The prosecution investigation team and Ms. Kim’s side are reported to have argued that all charges of brokerage bribery, violation of the Attorney-at-Law Act, and bribery must be “job-related” to be recognized, so there is “no suspicion.” Some members also asked questions related to job-relatedness, such as, “What specifically did Mr. Choi ask?” There were no separate questions about the abuse of power charges that arose from the suspicion that Ms. Kim intervened in the appointment of Financial Services Commission members and the suspicion that she destroyed evidence by designating the Dior bag as presidential records. The investigation review committee decided not to disclose how the opinions on indictment and non-indictment for each charge were divided. It is reported that there were some differences of opinion among the members during the deliberation process, but there were no major differences of opinion in the process of reaching a conclusion on the non-indictment decision.
● Prosecutors are expected to decide not to prosecute soon
Inside and outside the prosecution, there is an outlook that since the conclusions of the investigation review committee and the prosecution investigation team are unanimous in their decision to “not indict,” the Prosecutor General Lee will accept the investigation team’s conclusion of not guilty. On the 26th of last month, Prosecutor General Lee stated, “I will respect the (investigation team’s) opinion and also respect the results of the investigation review committee’s deliberation.” After receiving the recommendation of not indictment from the investigation review committee on that day, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office stated, “We plan to make a final decision on the case by referring to the decision and discussion of the investigation review committee.” The prosecution plans to dispose of Mrs. Kim’s case next week.
There are also some who criticize this investigation review committee as a “formal act to build up a case for non-indictment.” The investigation team and Ms. Kim’s side, who claim not guilty, attended the investigation review committee, but those who claim that Ms. Kim, including Mr. Choi, should be punished were unable to attend. A former prosecutor and lawyer said, “Usually, when the investigation team and the suspect have different opinions, both sides can be heard, but this investigation review committee proceeded unilaterally due to the nature of the case, so the result was predictable.” The Voice of Seoul, which filed a complaint against Ms. Kim, announced that it plans to appeal. There is also speculation that the Dior bag case and the investigation process could also be included in the special investigation. Immediately after the announcement of the investigation review committee, the Democratic Party of Korea announced, “We will pursue a special investigation.”
Reporter Koo Min-ki [email protected]
Reporter Choi Mi-song [email protected]
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2024-09-08 00:59:36