Autopsy of Informant Who Raised the Allegation on Lee Jae-myung's Legal Fees, "Heart Problem Due to Underlying Illness"

[경향신문]

A motel in Yangcheong-gu, Seoul where the police discovered the body of Yi, the head of a civic group who firstreported the questionable payment of legal fees by Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea. Yonhap News

Yi (55), the man who first provided the tip on the questionable payment of Lee Jae-myung’s legal expenses, was found dead and the autopsy report suggests he died of heart problems.

On the morning of January 13, the police announced, “The National Forensic Service said that after conducting an autopsy of Yi, they found no particular external injuries in his body that could have caused his death,” and added, “We received an oral report that the cause of death seemed to be aortic dissection and rupture.”

Aortic dissection and rupture are heart problems that can be caused by underlying cardiovascular diseases, such as high blood pressure, hardening of the arteries, and old age. A police representative said, “Yi was already suffering from heart-related problems with more serious than moderate symptoms.” When the police found Yi, they also found drugs related to his illness at the scene.

Earlier, Yi was found dead in a motel room in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul at around 8:35 p.m. on January 11. The police searched for and discovered Yi following a missing person’s report by his family, who claimed to have lost contact with him on January 8. Yi had been staying in the motel for nearly three months.

The police estimated the time of his death to be one or two days before they discovered Yi based on the state of the body. The police said, “We checked the security camera footage, and no one entered Yi’s room after he last entered on the morning of January 8, and after a forensic analysis of the scene, we found no traces of entry from outside.” They further explained, “Based on the state of the body, it (the time of death) seems closer to January 8 than January 11 when he was discovered.”

The police representative said, “We will conduct tests on his blood, tissue and check for any toxins and identify the exact cause of death in a final autopsy report.”

Yi was the man who handed a civic group the transcript of a recording, which suggested that Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, gave the lawyer who defended him when he was charged of violating the Public Official Election Act in 2018, 300 million won and convertible bonds worth 2 billion won as his legal fee. The civic group reported Lee to the Prosecution Service based on this transcript, and the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office is investigating the case.