Former Prosecutor Still Has Something to Say about Prosecution’s Pressure

Former prosecutor Kim Do-hun of the Choengju District Prosecutors’ Office was released from the Cheongju Correctional Institution Thursday. He was charged with secretly videotaping former presidential aid Yang Kil-seung and of receiving of bribes.

The court decided yesterday to release the former prosecutor who was arrested on August 21. The prosecutor, who was released on bail of 20 million won, will face trial without being behind bars.

▽ The argument of former prosecutor Kim

At a meeting with the press after his release, Kim thanked judges for their fair decision and also expressed his gratitude to his team of 34 lawyers. He apologized to the general public for causing any concern. Explaining that he recorded his investigation over Lee Won-ho in the documents disclosed to the media, he said that he will reveal the truth over the prosecution’s pressure on him over the investigation of Lee Won-ho after consultations with his lawyers, if necessary. The former prosecutor stressed that the truth will be revealed in trial over his charges of making a secret videotape and of taking bribes.

Kim’s lawyers said that the prosecution decided to add more charges against Kim. The evidence over these charges, however, was regarded as lacking credibility by the prosecution during their initial stage of the investigation over Kim. The prosecution, the lawyers for Kim criticized, is just trying to find more faults with the former prosecutor without showing any hard evidence about the charges. Kim’s lawyers argued that the prosecution should try to investigate the two most fundamental issues of this case, which are the allegation over the prosecution’s protection of Lee Won-ho from the investigation into his charges and the allegation over Lee’s lobbying of politicians.

Meanwhile, senior prosecutor Chu Yu-yeop at the Cheongju District Prosecutors’ Office said that he would add more charges against former prosecutor Kim if necessary after indicting him Saturday.

▽ Controversy over the prosecution’s investigation into Kim

The release of the former prosecutor has sparked controversy over the appropriateness of the prosecution’s investigation into Kim.

The Coalition of Civic Groups in the Chungbuk area said that the release of Kim strongly indicates problems in the fairness and legitimacy of this investigation. The coalition argued that prosecutors investigating Kim’s case should be replaced and the special counsel system should be introduced to find out the truth over the case involving former presidential advisor Yang Kil-seung.

Attorneys for Kim argued that the prosecution failed to find any hard evidence with Kim’s charges, as they conducted the investigation solely based on statements from the people concerned. This argument, said the attorneys, was accepted by judges who later decided to release Kim.

Indeed, after arresting Kim, the prosecution searched his house and traced his accounts to find hard evidence over his bribery charges. The search only ended in failure, however. One statement even claimed that Kim was not involved in the secret taping. What’s more is that the statement of a woman known only as Park that she gave money to Kim lacks credibility. All combined, these have made the prosecution concentrate their efforts on finding concrete evidence against Kim.

Meanwhile, heated debates are expected between the prosecution and the defense over Kim’s charges on making a secret videotape and receiving kickbacks. As Kim said that he would reveal the forces within the prosecution protecting Lee Won-ho and Lee’s provision of political funds to politicians, new facts may as yet be discovered.

straw825@donga.com