Kim Jae-jeong Refuses to Drop Case

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors` Office is investigating a defamation suit filed by former Seoul mayor Lee Myung-bak’s brother-in-law Kim Jae-jeong over leaked government documents detailing Lee`s real estate practices. On July 11, it said that the Prosecutors’ Office found that 10 people accessed Lee’s personal information by analyzing information given by the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs, the Ministry of Construction and Transportation, National Tax Service and the Korean National Policy Agency.

The information accessed for the last three years was mostly Lee’s criminal records. The prosecution is investigating who accessed them and why, and if any of them were leaked outside.

The prosecution is considering asking the National Intelligence Service to submit related information in order to get to the bottom of the so-called ‘Lee Myung-bak X-file leakage.’

Meanwhile, the former mayor’s brother-in-law Kim Jae-jeong (58) said he would not drop his libel case even though the Grand National Party (GNP) and Lee camp demanded him to do otherwise.

Kim’s lawyer Kim Yeong-cheol called a press conference and said, “I will not withdraw the suit against lawmakers Yoo Seung-min and Lee Hye-hoon, former lawmaker Seo Cheong-won, and the Kyunghyang Daily newspaper, which said I was involved in real estate speculation.”

He, however, added, “I may consider dropping the suit if the defendants made a public apology or the GNP came up with a strong measure to prevent similar allegations in the future.”

needjung@donga.com