Kim Hak-eui ascended to the position of vice minister of justice during the Park Geun-hye administration. He was only in office for a few days when he had to resign because of accusations that he had earlier engaged in a course of conduct of sexual debauchery and accepting bribes in the form of sexual favors. During the Park administration, prosecutors nolle prossed ( 무혐의 ) the charges on two occasions.* They said Kim denied being in the video and the victim's specific identity couldn't be determined in a sex video recorded in a luxury country villa in Wonju. Charges of accepting bribes were also dimissed by prosecutors. One victim claimed that she and others had been drugged and raped repeatedly by Kim Hak-eui and another man at the villa. Another female victim allegedly committed suicide. The victim only identified as "Lee" claimed she was physically threatened to not disclose the incidents. She also claimed that the other male defendant threatened to publish the sex videos if she got any ideas.
* 김학의 별장 성접대 사건, https://namu.wiki, downloaded 2.26.2021
Police believed the evidence was sufficient when they made the referrals to the prosecutors office. Ms. Lee's attorney filed a formal criminal complaint which was basically ignored by prosecutors according to one press observer. At some point it was alleged that another victim prompting the second prosecution determination in 2015 accepted financial support from the suspect bribing Kim Hak-eui and the charges of all victims were thereby discounted by prosecutors and generally discredited in the press. Allegedly, Kim's home and accounts were never searched by prosecutors during the 2013 to 2015 investions. In 2019, the case was investigated again, and on May 16, 2019, Kim was arrested. At the first trial Kim was found not guilty and the case went up on appeal for rehearing. In October 2020, at the appellate court hearing, Kim was found guilty, and given a prison sentence of two and half years, for accepting different bribes during a later period. The appellate court ruled the statute of limitations had passed on the earlier crimes of receiving bribes and sexual favors.
Before his arrest in 2019, Kim Hak-eui attempted to flee from South Korea to Thailand. This came to the attention of a team of investigators appointed by the Justice Ministry to investigate the earlier prosecution mishandling of the case. Upon discovery of Kim's imminent plan to leave South Korea, a prosecutor assigned to the Justice Ministry team requested that Kim be detained at the airport. According to the supporters of the current Prosecutor General, Yoon Seok-yeol, the travel ban order and detention of Kim at the airport were unlawful because the legal documents prepared were defectively executed and without authority.
This is a version of the events according to the conservative Korea Herald:
Kim had resigned as the vice minister of justice after just six days on the job during the former Park Geun-hye administration in March 2013, due to allegations he had received bribes and sexual favors.
He was acquitted (emphasis added) of bribery charges in 2013 and 2015.
In 2019, under the Moon administration, a reinvestigation into Kim was launched over suspicions he received bribes and sexual favors from businessmen between 2006 and 2011.
On the night of March 22, 2019, Kim was stopped at the gate of a flight bound for Bangkok at Incheon Airport as a prosecutor named Lee Kyu-won in the fact-finding team of the SPO requested from the Justice Ministry an emergency overseas travel ban.*
*Controversial travel ban on ex-vice minister backfires, By Kim So-hyun Published : Jan 14, 2021 - 13:52 The Korea Herald, http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20210114000731
(Source- YTN News file video rebroadcast 2.24.2021) Lee Seong-yoon, (이성윤) Chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Branch, Seoul, regarded as the "restraint" on Yoon Seok-yeol has been subpoenaed in an investigation "turnaround," in which he becomes the suspect. ( 이성윤, '피의자 전환' ) Ultimately, Lee could be a candidate for Prosecutor General, the top position now currently held by Yoon Seok-yeol when the latter's term ends.
So, improbably, the Suwon Prosecutors Office, is now currently investigating, Lee Seong-yoon, the Chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office, for his alleged role in the "improper" issuance of a prosecutor's order to block the suspect Kim from fleeing South Korea while an investigative process was pending against him. While the conservative press supporters of the current Prosecutor General Yoon Seol-yeol, propagate this narrative of a so called miscarriage of criminal justice, by issuance of the "illegal prohibition" of foreign travel by Kim, there is an ulterior motive behind the investigation.* When Yoon's two year term in office ends this July, Seoul District Chief Lee is very likely to be appointed his successor as Prosecutor General by the Blue House. When this happens, cases currently being investigated by Lee, and other prosecutors assigned to his office are likely to proceed. As a result, in the near future, Yoon and his remaining followers in prosecution offices, will be unable to prevent investigations and indictments of Yoon, relevant subordinate prosecutors, or Yoon's family members from going forward. As in so many other cases, the investigation of Chief Prosecutor Lee is another episode of "civil lawfare" in the republic of lawyers.
While it is difficult to keep track of the laundry list of cases which have not yet run up against the statute of limitations, the Channel A News scandal pending against prosecutor Han Dong-hun allegedly involves Yoon. In addition, there is a new so called "mortuary fraud" case involving Yoon's mother in law along with the hospital fraud indictment filed against her last November. There is the Deutsche Motors stock options case against Yoon's wife, which is currently under investigation. Attorney Rim Eun-jeong, ( 임은정 ) a well known critic of the General Prosecutor's Office, has been appointed by the Minister of Justice as a special prosecutor assigned to Lee's office to investigate the political prosecution of former Prime Minister, Han Myeong-suk, which allegedly relied on perjured testimony solicited by prosecutors. Prosecutor General Yoon publicly criticized Rim's appointment and the granting of investigation powers to Rim by the Justice Ministry as "useless."
So the innuendo now disseminated in the conservative Korean media, is that Lee is not a fitting candidate for Prosecutor General, and that someone more to Yoon's liking should be appointed to fill the vacant office after his departure. The media script accompanying the Suwon office's investigation of Lee is criticized by progressives as accurately framing Yoon's desperation, if nothing else. Yoon's upcoming departure is eagerly anticipated by the ruling democratic party. In the view of the Justice Ministry it can't happen soon enough. It is quite unlikely that the Blue House would pick anyone sympathatic to Yoon after all of his political vendettas aimed at sabotaging the democratic Moon administration and the series of prosecution reform initiatives passed by the National Assembly in 2020, currently being implemented. Incredibly, Yoon is still regarded by conservatives as a viable presidential candidate for the so called People's Power Party in 2022.
*See: Hol Seu-hyung's 시사건건 youtube channel commentary interpreting these political events. His 2.26 youtube in particular: 너무 초라해진 윤석열의 현재상황. 윤석열의 처참한 말로가 보인다. 이성윤 검찰총장 가즈아; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4nluVmnZQA
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