The joint investigation team at the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office, which is investigating the "customs drug smuggling allegations," wrapped up its work after about eight months, finding all of the allegations raised by Police Superintendent Baek Hae-ryong to be groundless. The joint investigation team criticized Superintendent Baek for raising baseless suspicions and conducting an unlawful investigation.
On the 26th, the joint investigation team said the police unit within the team had decided not to refer four customs officials and seven others, including former Ministry of Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon and former Prosecutor General Lee Won-seok, who were in office at the time of the so-called "drug gate" allegations in 2023, thereby closing the investigation.
Allegations emerged that in Oct. 2023 the former minister and the former prosecutor general exercised personnel authority over the Southern District Prosecutors' Office's drug division to obstruct the probe. However, the joint investigation team determined that was not true because the organizational reshuffle had already been completed before then.
The joint investigation team also found groundless the allegation that President Yoon Suk-yeol's office exerted external pressure on prosecutorial and police investigations to conceal indications that first lady Kim Keon-hee's family was involved in a smuggling scheme. Although 30 locations, including the residences and offices of senior customs and police officials, were searched and seized, no contact with the presidential office was found.
Accordingly, following the interim announcement in Dec. last year that cleared seven customs officials and eight senior police and Korea Customs Service officials, virtually all related parties have been cleared. As for the four prosecutors whom Superintendent Baek accused of dereliction of duty, the case was transferred to the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), which has jurisdiction, without reaching a conclusion.
At the same time, the joint investigation team criticized Superintendent Baek, who led the initial probe, for conducting a textbook unlawful investigation by excluding from the case file smuggling suspects' statements that did not fit a predetermined conclusion while conducting on-site verifications at the airport.
The joint investigation team said, "In the report, the suspects' arguments and detailed movements were omitted, and it was briefly written as if they had given statements matching the alleged facts; even after filming related videos, they were not filed in the record, showing that proper investigative standards were not observed."
It added, "This constitutes evidence fabrication often criticized in special prosecution cases and an unlawful 'answer-fixed' method of investigation that excludes statements and evidence contrary to the predetermined conclusion."
It went on to criticize that "by violating investigative principles, falling into confirmation bias, and relying on false statements, indiscriminate allegation-raising caused social confusion."
In Jan., when Superintendent Baek completed a three-month secondment and returned to the police, the joint investigation team requested that the police discipline him. Superintendent Baek is suspected of disclosing investigative records to the media or leaking them outside the joint investigation team.
The Korean National Police Agency has ordered an internal inspection by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, to which Superintendent Baek belongs. Superintendent Baek is currently serving as head of the Hwagok police precinct at the Gangseo Police Station in Seoul.
The joint investigation team was launched in June last year to track a criminal organization that brought in 121.5 kilograms of drugs from January to September 2023 and to verify allegations that public officials were involved in the process. However, it reached the final conclusion that no concealment or cover-up by customs, police, or prosecution was detected.