Former Team Leader of the Ulsan Police Agency’s Intelligence Investigation Unit, Appears as a Witness at the Trial of Song Cheol-ho
“When working on weekends and nights, the National Police Agency will contact you… I don’t know who the head office is.”
“I know that the investigation status of the 2018 local election-related case was reported to the National Police Agency”
In the process of investigating corruption in the aides of former Mayor Kim Ki-hyun (currently a member of the People’s Power), who was then a candidate for the mayor of Ulsan ahead of the 2018 local elections, testimony came out in court to the effect that an employee of the Ulsan Police Agency was contacted by the National Police Agency headquarters.
Ms. Yang, who served as the team leader of the 4th team of the Ulsan Police Agency’s Intelligent Investigation Team, who appeared as a witness at the trial of Mayor Song and others held at the hearing of the Seoul Central District Court’s Criminal Settlement Division 21-3 (Chief Judge Jang Yong-beom, Ma Seong-young and Kim Jeong-gon) said this on the 18th. Yang was appointed as the team leader around January 2018 and conducted an investigation into corruption related to Kim’s aides.
Police colleagues believe Yang played a key role. Police officer A in charge of intelligence in the Special Investigation Division of the National Police Agency, who appeared as a witness at the hearing on February 14, answered, “After sending out the official information, the Blue House informed Mr. I heard it,” he testified.
Yang, on the other hand, is arguing that it is not an organization created for a specific purpose. In addition, while answering the prosecution’s offensive of questions at the trial that day, he appeared to avoid details such as “I don’t know” or “I don’t remember”.
In the trial that day, Yang was consistent in his avoidance. When the prosecution asked, “Did the witness receive direct inquiries from the main office of the National Police Agency regarding the investigation into the corruption of former mayor Kim? ” he replied.
When the prosecution asked once more, “Did you know that the investigation was reported to the National Police Agency while proceeding with the 2018 local election-related cases?” Yang answered briefly, “I heard.” Yang added, “In general, reports on the investigation status should be reported to the (Ulsan) Provincial Police Agency in advance, and the contents of the report should be notified to superiors in advance.” In 2018, when the investigation into Kim’s aides was in full swing, lawmaker Hwang Un-ha of the Democratic Party of Korea was serving as the head of the Ulsan Provincial Police Agency.
However, Yang said, “I do not remember whether or not I reported to the Commissioner a report on the alleged external pressure on the selection of a ready-mixed concrete company by Mr. Park, the chief of staff of former Mayor Kim.
When the prosecution inquired, “Isn’t the guideline to report important cases to the (Ulsan Provincial Police) Commissioner in advance regarding the occurrence, forced investigation, and processing results?” would have reported to The case of former Mayor Kim was an important case within the police.”
In September 2017, ahead of the local elections, Mayor Song was indicted and tried in January 2020 on charges of soliciting Rep. Hwang to investigate the misconduct of Kim Ki-hyeon, then mayor of Ulsan (violation of the Public Official Election Act).
Prosecutors believe that the Blue House officials handed over the inside information of the central and local governments to Mayor Song to help establish election promises, and ordered the Ulsan Provincial Police Agency to investigate in order to defeat Kim Ki-hyun, the mayor at the time.
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