The Kwon Chang-young second comprehensive special counsel team formed a dedicated investigation team in connection with allegations that the Yoon Suk-yeol presidential office intervened in the probe into SSANGBANGWOOL's remittances to North Korea.
The second special counsel said at a regular briefing on the 13th that it formed a dedicated investigation team related to the so-called "suspected state affairs manipulation case." The dedicated team will consist of one dispatched prosecutor, two special investigators, and dispatched police officers. The Ministry of Justice is also expected to dispatch one prosecutor to join the dedicated team this week.
At a regular briefing on the 6th, the second special counsel said the Kwon Chang-young second comprehensive special counsel team suspected an "extra-large state affairs manipulation" after asserting that the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's presidential office tried to intervene in the investigation into the "remittances to North Korea case" related to President Lee Jae-myung.
In connection with this, the second special counsel said it received the case last month from the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office human rights violation inspection task force (TF), which is investigating the case, and found areas requiring investigation. The second special counsel said, "After partially reviewing the records transferred from the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office, we suspect the remittances-to-North-Korea investigation team violated due process during the investigation, necessitating a probe."
The TF has been investigating the so-called "salmon and drinking party inducement allegations." The allegations claim that Prosecutor Park Sang-yong provided alcohol and food and extended favors during the SSANGBANGWOOL remittances-to-North-Korea investigation, coaxing former Vice Governor Lee Hwa-young and others to give specific statements.
The second special counsel said it received three criminal complaints from civic groups related to this case. Accordingly, it said it opened an investigation after booking the accused as suspects. When reporters asked what specific instances of procedural violations were suspected, the second special counsel said, "We cannot disclose specific details related to the investigation."
The special counsel team said it summoned and questioned 44 references and three subjects of preliminary inquiry last week. It conducted an additional search and seizure of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in connection with the "Deutsche probe cover-up allegations" involving Kim Keon-hee, and said it also searched and seized former first deputy director Kim Tae-hyo of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's Office of National Security and others in connection with the "insurrection collusion allegations."