Vice Minister of Justice Lee Yong-gu arrives at the government office in Gwacheon on the 22nd and gets off the car. Yonhap News
Controversy is spreading over the case where Vice Minister of Justice Lee Yong-gu assaulted a taxi driver while drinking. It was revealed that the taxi driver who was assaulted by Vice Minister Lee later overturned the initial statement shortly after the incident.
On the 22nd, the Seocho Police Station in Seoul said, “The taxi driver (who picked up Lee) told the police who dispatched to the scene on the 6th of last month. ‘I did it.’
Such a taxi driver’s statement is also included in an incident report made by the police dispatched from the Seocho Police Box. The incident report is a document that the police dispatched after receiving 112 reports write down an outline of the incident that occurred at the scene and report it to the police station.
An apartment in Seocho-gu, Seoul where Vice Minister Yong-gu Lee lives. Reporter Kyung-Hyun Kyung-Hyun
However, three days later, the taxi driver attended the police on the 9th of last month and changed the statement. At the time of the police’s writing of the incident report, Vice Minister Lee said that the taxi driver was “grabbed”, but when he attended the police, he changed that he “grabbed him.”
Also, in the initial statement, he said that it was “nearly at the destination,” but in the later statement, “the car was stopped.” He said, “I wasn’t sure that (Vice Minister Lee’s) curse was directed at me,” he said. “Because I was embarrassed, I said that I swear at first.”
According to the initial statement, the special price law applies without controversy
The difference between the initial statement and the later statement is important because when and how you behave, the charges applicable to this vice minister may vary. If, as in the initial statement, Vice Minister Lee assaulted the driver of a moving vehicle, it can be punished by applying the charges of’assaulting the driver in operation’ under the Specific Crimes Weighted Penalty Act (Special Privilege Act) regardless of the intention of the victim.
On the other hand, as in the later statement, if the car was stopped in front of Lee’s house in Seocho-gu, the degree of crime would be lower than when he first made a statement. According to the article, there is an opinion that the special price law should be applied because the vehicle that is stopped should be considered as in operation, but the police argue that simple assault can be applied based on the decision of the Constitutional Court in 2017.
Simple assault is a’anti-intentional dispensation’ in which the victim cannot punish the perpetrator if they do not want to. According to the police, the taxi driver said on the 12th of last month that he did not want punishment for Vice Minister Lee Yong-gu. On the basis of this, the police did not hand over the case to the prosecutors’ office and handled’internal investigation’.
In a text message on the 21st, Vice Minister Lee expressed his position, “I apologize for causing concern to the people with personal matters.”
Reporters Kyung-Hyun Kyung-Hyun Moon Hee-Cheol Moon and Seok-Hyun Ko [email protected]