[전국]Former Minister of Industry, Baek Woon-gyu, arrested today…

[앵커]

The prosecution investigating the suspicion of the early closure of Wolseong nuclear power plant unit 1 requested an arrest warrant from former Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Paik Woon-gyu.

The substantive examination of the warrant to determine whether or not to be arrested will be held at 2:30 pm in Daejeon District Court.

The arrest of former Minister Baek is expected to be a turning point in the nuclear investigation.

We will connect reporters to learn more. Reporter Lee Moon-seok!

Please tell us what allegations were specified in the arrest warrant for former Minister Baek, filed by the prosecution.

[기자]

Yes, there are two main charges against the prosecution on the warrant.

First, it is accused of’obstructing the exercise of rights of abuse of authority’.

It is that it exerted unreasonable pressure on Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power.

The prosecution said that the former Minister Baek was unfairly involved in the economic evaluation process so that the board of directors KHNP decided to close the Wolseong nuclear power plant unit 1 early and immediately shut down the operation.

The other is the charge of’obstructing business’.

Interpretations are divided on this charge.

First of all, there is an opinion that three public officials from the Ministry of Industry intervened in the act of deleting 500 materials related to nuclear power plants, thereby interfering with the work of the auditor.

Another opinion is interpreted as being accused of obstructing KHNP’s work by exerting undue pressure.

During a summons investigation on the 25th of last month, it is known that Baek denied all charges alleged by the prosecution.

Since the auditor’s investigation, KHNP has always answered that there is no fact that KHNP’s position was confirmed or ordered to confirm the early shutdown and immediate shutdown of nuclear power plants.

In addition, it is reported that there is no knowledge of what happened after the minister’s resignation about the deletion of data by officials from the Ministry of Industry.

Former Minister Baek is discussing with the prosecution, saying that he would like to reveal his position before proceeding with the warrant examination.

[앵커]

It is predicted that the arrest of former Minister Baek will have a great influence on the prosecution’s investigation in the future.

For what reason?

[기자]

Yes, whether or not Baek is arrested is likely to be a turning point in the prosecution’s investigation of the suspicion of the early closure of nuclear power plants.

When the prosecution launched an investigation in November last year, he stressed several times that it was not just the nuclear power plant policy justification, but the law violations in the policy enforcement process and audit process.

When looking at the results of the audit of the Audit Office, which was the basis for the investigation, Baek Jeon is specified as a key person involved in the evaluation process.

It is written that it was involved in the evaluation of the nuclear power plant’s economic feasibility, which hindered the credibility of the work, and that at least the result was known or sufficiently known but left it alone.

Therefore, if the court decides that the allegations applied to Secretary Baek are not a matter that requires arrest, the prosecution’s investigation is likely to lose the justification and power.

It is also expected that criticism from the politicians and others as “unreasonable investigation” will pour out.

Conversely, if an arrest warrant is issued, the prosecution’s investigation will speed up.

The prosecution of public officials from the Ministry of Industry, which was prosecuted earlier, contained a number of documents reported by the Blue House among the deleted data.

Therefore, the prosecution is expected to summon and investigate the Blue House personnel who were involved in the decision to close the Wolseong nuclear power plant early, such as Chehee-bong, then the Blue House industrial policy secretary.

The decision on whether to arrest Baek is expected to be decided late tonight.

YTN Lee Moon-seok in Daejeon[[email protected]]is.

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