The Marine special counsel said it will summon CIO Minister Oh Dong-woon on the 31st to question him as a suspect. The special counsel previously booked Minister Oh on charges of dereliction of duty and conducted a search and seizure.
Special Counsel Jeong Min-young said at a regular briefing on the morning of the 28th, "We plan to question Minister Oh starting at 9:30 a.m. on the 31st."
CIO Vice Minister Lee Jae-seung, who faces dereliction of duty charges along with Minister Oh, was summoned to the special counsel's office on the morning of the same day and is being questioned as a suspect.
Minister Oh and Vice Minister Lee are suspected of "protecting their own" in violation of the CIO Act by intentionally delaying the investigation without notifying the Supreme Public Prosecutors' Office of the National Assembly perjury accusation case against former Investigation Division 2 Director General Prosecutor Song Chang-jin. Under the CIO Act, when the CIO head discovers criminal allegations against a CIO prosecutor, the matter must be reported to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office along with the relevant materials.
On July 26 last year, appearing as a witness before the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly, former division Director General Prosecutor Song testified that he did not know until the 10th of the same month that former Black Pearl Invest CEO Lee Jong-ho was involved in the alleged lobbying to save former 1st Marine Division Commander Im Seong-geun in connection with the death of Sergeant Chae.
However, before joining the CIO, in 2021, former division Director General Prosecutor Song had represented former CEO Lee, a suspect in the Deutsch Motors stock manipulation case. Accordingly, the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly filed a complaint against him for perjury in August last year.
Investigation Division 3, which was assigned the complaint case, is said to have drafted an investigative report to the effect that former division Director General Prosecutor Song was not guilty and that the case should not be reported to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office.
The investigation into this case was postponed for a year and resumed in June when the special counsel was launched and received the related case from the CIO.
Meanwhile, at a regular briefing held at the Government Complex Gwacheon on the morning of the same day, the CIO said, "Limited to investigations targeting the CIO, it is regrettable that the appearance schedules of people involved in the case become known to the outside in advance even though they have not been finalized." The CIO also said in a related notice in the afternoon, "As of now, regarding the appearance schedule, the CIO head has not been officially notified (by the special counsel)," and added, "The (summons) schedule is also not finalized."