Police asked about Kim Byung-kee's political standing during probe; ex-aide seeks review panel after 11 months

Eleven months into a police investigation into various misconduct allegations against independent Rep. Kim Byung-kee, a former floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, authorities have yet to reach a disposition — and calls for a police investigative review committee to demand a swift conclusion are mounting.

A former aide to Kim, identified only as A, submitted a request to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on Monday asking it to convene an investigative review committee and disclose the reasons behind the delay in referring the case and issuing a disposition. A is both a victim in the allegation that Kim pressured Coupang Inc. to fire him — involving charges of obstruction of business and violations of the anti-graft law — and the complainant in a separate allegation that Kim unlawfully seized his Telegram account in violation of the Communications Secrets Protection Act.

In the request, A said a review was needed to determine whether the police's failure to secure Kim's detention and its repeated postponement of a disposition stemmed from "circumstances other than investigative necessity — such as the police leadership reading the political winds." A asked the committee to examine "whether Kim's status as a sitting lawmaker is functioning as a privilege, and whether investigative authorities have been hesitant to act out of concern over political fallout."

A also cited a "stark imbalance in status" between Kim and the victims, warning that "the longer the investigation is delayed, the more the concern that Kim will use his position and resources as a lawmaker to exert influence over the case is becoming a reality." A further requested "the opportunity to appear before the review committee in person to present supplementary testimony on the harm caused by the delayed disposition."

A said that during the investigation, a police detective asked him about Kim's standing within the current administration — specifically, "What is Kim Byung-kee's position in this government?"

A also raised questions about whether key political events — including the June 3 local elections last year and the Democratic Party of Korea's national convention scheduled for Aug. 17 — had caused police to repeatedly time their decisions around the political calendar.

"Dispositions by investigative authorities must be made solely on the basis of law and evidence, without regard to political advantage or disadvantage," A wrote in the request. "If police — who will soon hold a monopoly on investigative powers — have repeatedly delayed dispositions out of awareness of specific political schedules rather than proving their own fairness and independence, that constitutes a breach of investigative integrity, and accountability must follow."

A also alleged in the request that police had in effect neglected to investigate key allegations, including suspicions that Kim's eldest son received preferential treatment in being hired by the National Intelligence Service. A recording made public last June captured Kim's wife calling Lee Heon-su, then the NIS's planning and coordination chief, to discuss her son's employment. About four months after that call, Kim's eldest son was hired as a mid-career recruit at the NIS.

A said "the grounds for each disposition decision — referral or non-referral — on each of the 13 allegations against Rep. Kim, along with the process by which those decisions were reached, including the views of the investigators in charge, the findings of the leadership review, and particularly the directives from the National Investigation Headquarters, need to be disclosed transparently."

Earlier, a civic group called the People's Livelihood Countermeasures Committee, which had filed a complaint over allegations that Kim's second son received preferential treatment in transferring to Soongsil University — involving charges of obstruction of business — also asked police on Friday to convene a review committee, saying the delays "raise suspicion that they stem from circumstances other than investigative capacity."

The police investigative review committee may be convened at the request of parties to a case. Composed of outside experts, the panel examines the appropriateness and validity of investigative procedures and outcomes. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency is scheduled to hold a review committee session Tuesday for a separate, unrelated case. Requests to convene a panel for cases involving Kim are currently under review.

Police have for months repeated only that the Kim case is in its final stages. Hong Seok-gi, head of the Korean National Police Agency's National Investigation Headquarters, again said Monday at a regular press briefing that the investigation was "at the stage of supplementary direction to strengthen its completeness" when asked about the case's progress. Responding to criticism of the slow pace, Hong said "there is more to supplement than what appears from the outside," and added that "the leadership's position is to raise the completeness of the case, because the more significant the subject, the more it becomes a test of the police's capabilities."