At the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee's audit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on the 15th, the ruling and opposition parties criticized the police's 'investigation standards' by mentioning cases involving politicians and former high-ranking public officials.
The Democratic Party of Korea pointed out that the investigation was insufficient, citing allegations of 'false specifications' by Rep. Han Dong-hoon's daughter, and the People Power Party raised suspicions of a biased investigation by comparing the investigation times of Rep. Kim Jae-seop and Rep. Kim Byeong-gi.
Representative Lee Hae-sik of the Democratic Party pointed out that in the case of Rep. Han Dong-hoon's daughter, there was only a one-time written investigation of the spouse without a search and seizure, and when the prosecution did not send the request for international criminal legal assistance to the Ministry of Justice, the police also did not forward it as if they had been waiting.
At the same time, he criticized, “It was a typical poor investigation and a patronizing investigation that was influenced by those in power.”
In response to this, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Chief Go Beom-seok said, "I believe the investigation at the time was conducted in accordance with laws and principles," but added, "I will check the investigation details again to see if there are any insufficiencies."
Rep. Lee Hae-sik also pointed out the delay in the investigation of the People Power Party member bulletin board incident involving Rep. Han Dong-hoon, and urged a thorough investigation into the suspicion of leakage of the indictment plan related to former Justice Minister candidate Kim Seung-won.
In the investigation into the collapse of Seosomoon High School, the fact that officials from the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the ordering party, remained as witnesses even though three people died and three were injured was also raised as an issue.
Commissioner Ko responded, “As we proceed with the investigation, we will also actively consider converting the suspect into a suspect, if that is the case.”
Democratic Party lawmakers continued to call for an investigation into allegations of rebates related to the selection of shipping companies for the Han River Bus.
Democratic Party lawmaker Park Joo-min said that even though a related investigation request was written, it was not delivered to the police, and demanded, "We should not pay attention to it because it is a Seoul city incident and it is related to the mayor of Seoul."
Next, Rep. Kim Young-bae of the same party asked whether a police investigation was possible and said, "I think it should be investigated if people who were at important points in decision-making in the Seoul Metropolitan Government even wrote an investigation request."
Commissioner Ko responded, “I believe we need to confirm whether there are any clues that could lead to an investigation,” and “We will review it and see if there are any clues that can lead to the start of an investigation.”
Democratic Party lawmaker Yoon Geon-young pointed out that there is no investigation into former National Security Office First Deputy Director Kim Tae-hyo and former National Intelligence Service Director Kim Gyu-hyeon regarding suspicions of the National Intelligence Service's budget support for the National Security Office.
At the same time, it has been almost a year since the complaint was made, and only the National Intelligence Service is investigating, and he asked whether there should be an investigation and search and seizure of the two people.
Seoul Commissioner Go Beom-seok responded, “The investigation is ongoing.”
People Power Party lawmaker Kang Myeong-gu pointed out that the investigation was stopped after 5 hours when independent lawmaker Kim Byeong-gi complained of back pain, while People Power Party lawmaker Kim Jae-seop was investigated for 16 hours and 46 minutes on the 6th despite requesting a written investigation.
Rep. Kang asked, “Why is it so different? That’s why the opposition party keeps criticizing it as a biased investigation and oppression of the opposition party.”
Commissioner Go explained that it took time because Rep. Kim Byeong-gi was investigated several times and Rep. Kim Jae-seop faced multiple charges.
Rep. Kim Jae-seop added that the investigation time included rest and time to read the report, and the investigation was conducted with a lawyer present after obtaining consent for the late-night investigation.
Rep. Kwon Young-jin of the same party took issue with the distribution of cases between Rep. Kim Jae-seop and former Seongdong-gu Mayor Won-oh Jeong, who reported each other in relation to the Seoul mayoral election.
It was pointed out that the case of former district mayor Jeong was assigned to the Seongdong Police Station, which had a long-standing cooperative relationship with the district office, while the case of Rep. Kim was being investigated by the Seoul Metropolitan Government.
Commissioner Go said, "Both cases were initially assigned to Dobong and Seongdong police stations, respectively, but Rep. Kim's case was reported to several police stations and transferred back to the Seoul Metropolitan Government. We will conduct a strict investigation in accordance with laws and principles."
