Prosecutor Park Sang-yong, who faces allegations of coaxing testimony with a so-called "salmon-and-liquor party," visited the Supreme Prosecutors' Office on the 11th for a review on whether to discipline him. The Supreme Prosecutors' Office had not separately requested Park's appearance, but he came to ask for a chance to explain.
Park arrived at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seocho District, Seoul, at about 1:50 p.m. He told reporters in front of the civil service office, "I have not been notified of the grounds for the inspection allegations or the suspension from duty, so I have had no opportunity to state my position," adding, "No matter how wrong I was and even if I am disciplined, discipline should not be carried out based on a predetermined conclusion without giving any procedural right to defense or any opportunity to explain."
Park denied the salmon-and-liquor party allegation, saying, "How could that possibly be true?" He said, "Even the correctional officer right next to us did not know, and there was no such thing. Disciplining someone based on the result of a lie detector, which has no evidentiary value, is something that has never happened in the history of the prosecution," adding, "It does not match the law or the facts at all."
He added, "If there were anything I could do within the procedure, an ordinary public official would not be standing before the media like this or waiting in the civil service office without any timeline," and said, "I want a chance to explain to the outside members of the (inspection committee), knocking on their 'petition drum' in spirit."
He said, "After the Supreme Prosecutors' Office inspection committee, the case goes to the Ministry of Justice, where there is also an inspection committee, and the disciplinary committee makes the final decision on discipline," adding, "If a disciplinary action is ultimately handed down and I cannot accept its contents, I plan to file a suit to cancel it." Park is said to have submitted a 50-page opinion to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office on the 7th.
While investigating the SSANGBANGWOOL remittance-to-North-Korea case at the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, Park is suspected of coaxing testimony by providing salmon and alcohol to suspects including former Gyeonggi Province Vice Governor for Peace Lee Hwa-young and former SSANGBANGWOOL Chairman Kim Seong-tae. The human rights violation review task force (TF) at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office, which inspected the allegation, is understood to have concluded that there was a drinking gathering at the time and reported it to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office. However, Kim, who previously appeared as a witness at the National Assembly's parliamentary inquiry, denied the drinking allegation, saying he did not drink.