Police Raid Five Hanwha Offices

The Seoul District Prosecutors’ office investigating the alleged outside intervention concerning the Hanwha chairman’s “revenge assault” raided the Hanwha Group’s headquarters in Seoul and the homes and offices of Choi Ki-moon, the former National Police Agency commissioner general and current advisor for Hanwha Group, and Yoo Si-wang, adviser of Hanwha Security, yesterday.

The prosecution deployed a prosecutor along with a dozen investigators to the offices and secured materials and computer data that Hanwha Group had sent to those two advisers.

A prosecutor at the Seoul District Prosecutors’ offices explained the surprise search, saying, “There are some materials we didn’t go through in the first round of the investigation, and also the investigation’s focus could be different this time.” In particular, the reason behind the storming of the office and home of advisor Yoo are to investigate whether Lee Taek-soo, Commissioner General of the National Police Agency, had received a request for favors in the incident involving Hanwha Group chairman from adviser Yoo, who is a high school alumnus of Lee.

Lee admitted that he received a phone call from Yoo on April 29 when the chairman was summoned by the police but denied he requested a favor. Meanwhile, according to the police inspection, former Commissioner General Choi made phone calls to Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency chief Hong Yeong-ki, the investigation director at the Seoul police office Han Ki-min, and the police chief at the Seoul Namdaemun police station, Jang Hui-gon, which increased suspicions that he received outside pressure.

Meanwhile, the prosecution also is reportedly investigating the suspicion that Lee, the commissioner general, and adviser Yoo played golf together after the “revenge attack” took place.

will71@donga.com