The police finished their second round of questioning on the 3rd of Lee Jin-sook, former Chairperson of the Korea Communications Commission, who was arrested on suspicion of violating the Public Official Election Act and the State Public Officials Act.
The Yeongdeungpo Police Station in Seoul said it conducted a second round of questioning of the former Chairperson starting in the morning and ended the session at about 6 p.m., as she refused to undergo nighttime questioning for a second straight day. After the questioning, she was again held in the police detention cell.
The former Chairperson is suspected of making politically biased remarks and engaging in preliminary electioneering through conservative-leaning YouTube channels and her Facebook account from September to October last year and from March to April this year.
During the questioning, the former Chairperson admitted all the facts themselves but reportedly denied the charges on the grounds that they do not constitute a crime.
The police are reviewing whether to seek an arrest warrant after comprehensively analyzing the former Chairperson's statements.
The former Chairperson was arrested at about 4 p.m. on the 2nd near her home. Earlier, the police executed a court-issued arrest warrant, saying she had failed to comply with six summonses.
Under current law, for a suspect who has been arrested, authorities must request an arrest warrant or release the person within 48 hours.
Regarding the arrest, attorney Im Moo-young for the former Chairperson told reporters after the second round of questioning, "Excluding meals and breaks, the actual questioning time over two days is less than six hours," and argued, "For questioning that totaled less than six hours, forcibly securing custody amounts to an abuse of power by the police."
Meanwhile, the former Chairperson has filed a petition with the court for a legality review of the arrest, and the hearing is scheduled to take place at 3 p.m. on the 4th at the Seoul Southern District Court. A legality review of arrest is a procedure to determine whether the arrest was carried out lawfully and whether continued detention is necessary.