Former Administrator, Song Cheol-ho Appears as a Witness for Violation of the Public Official Election Act
“Received a case report from the police and read it… After understanding the public sentiment related to state management, report to the upper level”
Prosecutor’s Office “The Secretariat’s Office, which receives reports from the head of the National Police Agency’s Investigation Division, is the State Affairs Office”
A former administrative officer who worked in the office of the civil affairs secretary during the Moon Jae-in administration testified that he reported to Baek Won-woo, a former civil affairs secretary of the Blue House, a report that summarized the case of Kim Ki-hyun’s brother, former leader of the People’s Power, in violation of the Attorney Law.
On the 13th, the Seoul Central District Court’s Criminal Settlement Division 21-3 (Jang Yong-beom, Ma Seong-young and Kim Jeong-gon) held a trial on former Ulsan Mayor Song Cheol-ho for violation of the Public Official Election Act. On that day, the trial was conducted as a witness interrogation by the prosecution of police officer A, who served as an administrator in the Civil Affairs Secretariat Office of the Moon Jae-in government, who appeared as a witness.
Person A said, “I once received a report from the police of the Investigation Division of the National Police Agency that summarized the case of Kim’s younger brother and Kim’s chief of staff.” She also testified, “I remember seeing the media reports and reading the reports. I reported this to Baek Won-woo, former presidential secretary for civil affairs.”
According to Mr. A, the main task of the administrator of the Office of the Civil Affairs Secretariat is to identify trends in public sentiment related to the operation of state affairs. After the administrator organizes the contents of the recent issues, it is reported to the upper level (senior administrator).
The prosecution investigated Mr. A intensively as to whether he reported things unrelated to his job to his superiors while working in the civil affairs secretary’s office or whether he took action by arbitrarily deciding. Then, Mr. A was consistent with answers such as “I don’t know” or “I don’t know”. In particular, Ms. A avoided her answer, saying, “I don’t know exactly what I was not involved in.”
When the prosecution asked a witness, “Have you ever seen information regarding corruption of Kim’s aide?” Mr. A said, “I’ve never seen it.” However, Mr. A said that he worked at the civil affairs secretary’s office and had received several cases of progress related to individual investigations from the National Police Agency.
When Mr. A testified that “I had arbitrarily made judgments without instructions from superiors and grasped the progress of individual investigations with the National Police Agency,” the prosecution focused on examining the basis of Mr. A’s judgment.
In the witness newspaper that followed, Mr. A stated that he had received a report on the case of Mayor Song from Mr. B, the head of the investigation department of the National Police Agency. In the process, the prosecution found out that the secretariat’s office, which usually receives reports from the head of the National Police Agency’s investigation department, is the state affairs office.
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