The second special prosecutor team led by Kwon Chang-young has lifted a travel ban on prosecutor Park Sang-yong in connection with allegations that the presidential office interfered in the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office investigation. Park criticized the special counsel, saying the team "must be held accountable."
Park said Tuesday on his social media that he had checked and found his travel ban lifted. "Special Prosecutor Kwon Chang-young must be held accountable for spreading rumors about an 'ultra-large-scale abuse of state power' and for violating human rights through the misuse of travel bans," he wrote.
He also challenged the special counsel team directly, saying it had "not conducted a single inquiry or investigation into me over three months." He asked whether, at the time of the April 7 press release invoking the phrase "ultra-large-scale abuse of state power," there had been "even a single substantive lead suggesting that the Yoon Suk Yeol Cheong Wa Dae had intervened to manipulate the inter-Korean remittance case."
At a briefing on April 7, deputy special prosecutor Kwon Young-bin said the team had "confirmed an attempted intervention by the presidential office of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration in the Ssangbangwool inter-Korean remittance case in early last month," adding that the team viewed the matter as "a suspected ultra-large-scale abuse of state power by the national government."
The special counsel team placed travel bans on Park — who investigated the inter-Korean remittance case — as well as on independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon, who served as justice minister at the time, and former Prosecutor General Lee Won-seok, starting in April. The team did not question any suspects or witnesses in the related case over the following three months.
Impartiality concerns arose during the investigation after it emerged that deputy special prosecutor Kwon had previously represented former Gyeonggi Province Vice Governor for Peace Lee Hwa-young and former Ssangbangwool Vice Chairman Bang Yong-cheol as their defense attorney. The case was subsequently reassigned to deputy special prosecutor Kim Chi-heon.
Sources said the special counsel team had internally concluded that advancing the investigation would be difficult.
The team, which had been renewing the travel bans on Park and others, did not extend Park's ban, which expired Monday.
Han's travel ban remains in effect through Sunday.
kimstar@heraldcorp.com
