DP reports president, two ministers to CIO over Australia envoy appointment

Former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup attends an Armed Forces Day ceremony at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, on Sept. 26, 2023. [NEWS1]

The Democratic Party (DP) on Friday reported President Yoon Suk Yeol, Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and Justice Minister Park Sung-jae to the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) on charges of abuse of power and helping a criminal abscond in connection with the appointment of former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup as ambassador to Australia.

Rep. Park Ju-min, the DP’s senior vice floor leader and Kim Seung-won, chairman of the DP’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee, visited the CIO office in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, on Friday to submit the complaint.

Lee was accused of allegedly trying to block the Marine Corps’ initial inquiry into the death of Lance Corporal Chae Su-geun, who died last July while searching for missing people after heavy rains and flooding that swept Korea at the time. Lee is also accused of trying to prevent the case from being transferred to the police.

Lee resigned from his position as defense minister in October last year, just before the DP could pass a motion to impeach him, and the CIO has been investigating him since then.

The Ministry of Justice had imposed a travel ban on Lee but lifted it when Yoon appointed him as ambassador to Australia on March 4.

When Lee left the country on March 10, the DP called him a “fugitive ambassador” and accused the presidential office of “helping a suspect flee.”

“The CIO has been investigating Lee as a key suspect" in the case of Lance Corporal Chae’s death, the DP said in a press release, "but President Yoon and Foreign Minister Cho appointed him as ambassador to Australia, and Justice Minister Park has made it possible for Lee to leave the country by lifting the travel ban.”

“The act of appointing ambassadors by the president and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to appoint public officials who will engage in diplomacy on behalf of Korea, and appointing a key suspect in an ongoing investigation and giving him grounds for leaving the country runs counter to that purpose,” the DP said. “A thorough investigation is necessary.”

DP floor leader Rep. Hong Ihk-pyo said Monday that the party would look to impeach Park and Cho, while party leader Lee Jae-myung called for President Yoon to cancel Lee’s appointment immediately and bring him back to Korea.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]