Song Kyung-ho, former Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office chief who led the probe into alleged corruption in the Daejang-dong and Baekhyeon-dong development projects involving President Lee Jae-myung during the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, said the "parliamentary investigation to uncover the truth about the alleged fabricated indictment by the Yoon Suk-yeol regime's political prosecutors" violates current law and challenges the separation of powers.
On the 19th, Song issued a seven-page A4 statement, saying, "The ongoing parliamentary investigation is an unconstitutional act that squarely violates the Constitution and the law and fundamentally shakes the judicial system." Regarding the parliamentary investigation, he said it was "a direct challenge to the constitutional principle of separation of powers," adding, "The legislature is invoking the authority of the National Assembly to perform the role of the judiciary and render a political verdict of 'fabricated indictment,' infringing on the independence of judicial power."
He also said that many of the seven cases subject to the parliamentary investigation, including the "Daejang-dong development corruption case" and the "SSANGBANGWOOL remittances to North Korea case," are on trial, thereby violating the Act on the Inspection and Investigation of State Administration, which states that "a parliamentary investigation must not be conducted for the purpose of intervening in the prosecution of cases that are on trial or currently under investigation." He added, "A parliamentary investigation that intervenes in cases that are on trial violates current law, and the very act of summoning prosecutors conducting trials and the parties to the case for questioning is an unlawful measure that disables judicial proceedings."
Song also said, "Simply because they conducted investigations, rank-and-file prosecutors and investigators are being summoned as witnesses and subjected to insulting personal attacks, and we have even seen the tragedy of a prosecutor attempting an extreme choice," calling it "a human rights violation and a crippling of functions against frontline investigative personnel."
On the investigative report prepared in May 2022 by the first Daejang-dong investigation team, he said, "It clearly noted the need for additional investigation and the intention to continue the probe, and the claim that the successor team forcibly overturned the conclusion is a blatant distortion." On the allegation of manipulating the "Jeong Young-hak recordings," he said, "What was used in court as evidence of guilt was not the transcribed transcript but the original audio files submitted by accountant Jeong Young-hak," adding, "The court played the original files directly in court, reviewed the contents, and then rendered its judgment."
He also emphasized the legality of the investigative procedure. He explained, "In Oct. 2022, we began verifying leads obtained from former Deputy Minister Yu Dong-gyu and conducted a pre-indictment inquiry (pre-investigation), after which four people, including former Deputy Director Kim Yong, were formally booked," adding, "In this process, indicating case-related individuals as suspects in investigative documents or provisionally listing alleged charges is a perfectly normal investigative procedure."