Baek Hae-ryong, a superintendent in the joint investigation team at the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office, who is currently investigating the alleged cover-up of customs drug investigations, said the prosecutors who previously investigated a drug smuggling case would be booked as suspects.
According to Yonhap News on the 9th, Superintendent Baek said, "We will book as suspects two prosecutors who were in charge of customs drug investigations at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office and the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office, respectively, and will also notify the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) that we recognize the facts of the crime." Under current law, the CIO has investigative authority over crimes such as dereliction of duty and abuse of authority by incumbent prosecutors.
Baek said, "The prosecutors who covered up drug cases related to national security should first be removed from duty," adding, "It is outrageous when you look at the records from that time."
He also pushed back against the joint investigation team having released that "the police's initial investigation was insufficient." He said he is reviewing a plan to disclose the draft of the on-site interview report from Incheon Airport in Sept. 2023, which is at issue. The joint investigation team released at the time that the police, while questioning a Malaysian national drug courier, did not have an interpreter present and induced an incorrect statement.
Baek said, "If we disclose all the on-site interview videos and the report, the truth will be clear," adding, "If the public's right to know is greater, then an open investigation is appropriate."
He also rebutted the joint investigation team's conclusion of no charges regarding the "alleged outside pressure from the police leadership," saying, "There was outside pressure, but I never said I was frustrated," and claimed, "The essence of this case is that the top authority opened the border to allow drugs to be smuggled."