Former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup was questioned by a state anti-corruption investigation agency Thursday in connection with a controversial military probe into last year’s death of a young Marine, informed officials said.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) questioned Lee as a power abuse suspect over allegations that he exerted influence to hold off the findings of an internal probe by the Marines on the death of the soldier, surnamed Chae. Suspicions had it that Chae was forced by his superiors to push ahead with a risky rescue operation for downpour victims without proper safety measures in July last year.
Lee was reportedly asked about whether he was involved in the defense ministry’s alleged interference in the probe into Lim Seong-geun, former commander of the 1st Division of the Marine Corps., on the charge of manslaughter over Chae’s death. Lim’s case was sent to police but was transferred back to the military prosecution.
The Marines’ top investigator in charge
of the case was separately indicted on charges of insubordination and defamation after he handed over the probe results on Chae to the police in defiance of Lee’s orders.
The CIO banned Lee from leaving the country in January, but he was named the new ambassador to Australia earlier this week.
The presidential office said it had no prior knowledge of the travel ban.
“Be it a travel ban or anything else, there is no way for us to know the details of the CIO’s investigation,” a presidential official told reporters. “Neither the presidential office nor the president can ask or receive answers about the details of the CIO’s investigation as it’s banned by law, so it’s only obvious that there would have been no way for us to know.”
The justice ministry is likely to lift Lee’s travel ban soon as he is believed to have a plan to leave for Australia on Friday.
The ministry held a meeting to discuss the issue earlier in the day, according to sources. The CIO does not appear to oppose the lifting of his travel ban
, saying that Lee promised to cooperate with the probe going forward.
But the Center for Military Human Rights Korea issued a statement saying Yoon’s appointment of Lee as the new envoy to Australia is an act “hampering” the CIO’s investigation and called for it to file for an arrest warrant against him.
Source: Yonhap News Agency