President Yoon must clear the suspicions

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President Yoon must clear the suspicions

Published: 29 May. 2024, 20:24 Updated: 30 May. 2024, 12:24

Surprising facts have surfaced over a political hot potato — deepening suspicions about the presidential office’s alleged pressure on the military investigation of the suspicious death of a Marine on a rescue mission. It has been found that President Yoon Suk Yeol and former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup had a sensitive phone conversation on the very day when Marine Corps’ investigation chief, Colonel Park Jeong-hoon, was dismissed from the job.

According to the phone records obtained by Col. Park, who is undergoing a court-martial trial on charges of insubordination, President Yoon called the defense minister with his private phone at 12:07, 12:43, and 12:57 a.m. on Aug. 2, when the minister was in Uzbekistan on a business trip. During the second phone conversation, Col. Park was informed of his dismissal from his job as chief investigator of the case. The finding suggests a possible connection between Park’s dismissal and the president’s phone call.

That’s not all. The phone records also show that the defense minister received a call from an official at the presidential office at 11:54 a.m. on July 31 last year shortly before the colonel’s press briefing about his investigation results was cancelled. Immediately after the 168-second phone conversation, the defense minister called the commander of the Marine Corps to order him to cancel the press briefing and stop the scheduled handover of the colonel’s investigation results to the police. After being briefed about the investigation results from his military affairs secretary that morning, President Yoon was reportedly “enraged.” After the expression of anger from the president, one of his aides likely called the defense minister to call off the scheduled press briefing.

After an opposition lawmaker asked if the defense minister had a phone conversation with the president over the case, the defense minister said he didn’t. As he clearly lied in the National Assembly, the former defense minister and the president must explain things.

We urge the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) to get to the bottom of the suspicions without any bias. President Yoon also must comply with a possible request for questioning from the extra law enforcement agency if the need arises. It was also found that the defense minister talked with several senior officials in the presidential office over the phone from July 31 to August 8 last year. The CIO must find out if they were also involved in pressuring the Marine colonel.

The presidential office must cooperate with the CIO’s investigation so as not to leave any suspicions behind. If the office wants to evade the probe or hide facts, a call for the appointment of a special prosecutor will grow even in the governing party.