30 minutes before the receipt of’emergency withdrawal request’ by Prosecutor Gyuwon Lee
Ministry of Justice employees also released video of’gold search’ at airport
It’s highly likely that there was an order to “hold it once”.
Former Vice Minister of Justice Kim Hak-eui (left) is arrested while attempting to leave the country at dawn on March 23, 2019 and exits the departure hall of Incheon Airport. JTBC capture
Two years ago, amid the spread of suspicion of’illegal departure (withdrawal)’ against Kim Hak-eui (65), former vice minister of the Ministry of Justice, a specific situation that can be seen as an order to block his departure before legal proceedings were taken by a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Justice. This is emerging one after another. Before the fact-finding team of the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office even sent an emergency withdrawal request, officials of the Ministry of Justice constantly inquired for information related to the departure of Kim, as well as a video showing him moving busy to find him waiting at the airport to board a foreign flight. It was released.
According to the public interest report on the withdrawal of former Vice Minister Kim on the 15th, Vice Minister Kim completed the on-site ticketing and boarding procedures at Incheon International Airport at 10:25 pm on March 22, 2019, to Thailand (planned to take off at 0:20 on the 23rd). . Subsequently, at 10:48 pm, the automatic immigration check was completed and moved to the boarding hall. At this time, it was possible to pass safely because no departure ban was taken. Prosecutor Lee Gyu-won, 44, who was dispatched to the fact-finding team, sent the official letter of request for an emergency withdrawal from former Vice Minister Kim, which is in the midst of a’illegal controversy’, to Incheon Airport at 0:8 the next day, an hour and 20 minutes later.
The problem is the fluctuating movements of the Ministry of Justice staff during this ‘1 hour and 20 minutes’ period. In particular, the Incheon Airport Closed Circuit (CC) TV video, which was posted on the Chosun Ilbo website that day, contains a scene where four employees of the Ministry of Justice move to the departure hall at 11:39 pm on the 22nd. It is presumed to have initiated a’search’ for former Vice Minister Kim, 29 minutes before the receipt of the emergency withdrawal request. And at 0:22 on the 23rd, employees of the Ministry of Justice approached former Vice Minister Kim, who was standing in front of Gate 109 due to the delay in takeoff of the aircraft. Then, around 4 am on the 23rd, Kim was taken outside the departure hall. He succeeded in restraining his departure.
Prior to this, the public interest reporter said that a large number of inquiries about the departure information of former Vice Minister Kim were also carried out. In the report, “10:28 p.m. on March 22nd-23rd 0:2 p.m., 10 public officials inquire about the immigration-related information of former Vice Minister Kim.” “On March 22, 10:52 p.m. During monitoring, recognition of entry to the departure hall → notification of foreigners’ headquarters → notification of major checkups from the headquarters, etc.”
Hence, the suspicion that not this prosecutor, but that someone much more’uppered’ instructed him to hold former Vice Minister Kim is gaining convincing. At that time, even though it was true that vice minister Kim’s concerns about “fleeing abroad” were prevalent, government officials of the Ministry of Justice made their own judgment or’direct action’ only at the request of the fact-finding team including this prosecutor in the absence of legal grounds (departure ban). It is because it is very unlikely that he would have entered into.
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