Was It Murder at the Blue House?

Rep. Kim Won-wung of the opposition Grand National Party charged Wednesday that the Blue House police guard who was shot dead last year was deliberately murdered and that the Presidential Security Service and senior police officials falsely reported the crime to the president as an accident.

Mr. Kim showed a letter making these accusations and said that it was signed by "a person belonging to the Blue House security team." He added that his own investigation revealed that the person is a current Blue House security officer.

The letter says policemen belonging to the 101st division gunned down a colleague while they were arguing at a guard post near the president's office.

It adds that An Joo-seob, the Blue House security chief; Lee Moo-young, then Seoul's police commissioner; Park Geum-seong, then chief of the 101st police division; and others discussed the matter and decided to report the murder to the president as an accident.

Mr. Lee has since become the commissioner general of the National Police Agency and Mr. Park the Seoul police commissioner before he was forced out of office last week for forging his college record.

The Grand National Party has organized a special committee chaired by Mr. Kim to investigate the case, it said.

In response, the Presidential Security Service called the accusation a lie and said that the guard post the letter points out as the place where the incident took place is used for visitors.

The National Police Agency also said that the incident was clearly an accident and that the handwriting of the signer of the letter does not match that of any Presidential Security Service employees.

by Ko Jung-ae