Construction union file lawsuit against state as investigation into leak of CCTV footage of Yang Hoe-dong at standstill over a year

A day ahead of the first anniversary of the death of the late Yang Hoe-dong, the head of the Gangwon branch of the construction union, who died in front of the Gangneung branch office of the Chuncheon District Prosecutors\' Office last year in protest of the police\'s excessive investigation, members of the Democratic Trade Union Confederation\'s construction union hold a demonstration in front of the Seodaemun-gu police station in Seoul, calling for a swift investigation into the leak of closed-circuit (CC) TV footage. By Kwon Do-hyun

As the police investigation into the alleged leakage of a closed circuit television (CCTV) showing Yang Hoe-dong, the Gangwon branch head of the construction union, setting fire to himself, has stalled for a year, the union and the bereaved family have filed a lawsuit against the state for damages. Some point out that the pace of the investigation is too slow compared to other cases of leaking confidential information.

The construction union announced on May 1 that it filed a complaint with the Seoul Central District Court seeking damages against the country and media organizations in connection with the leakage of CCTV footage of Yang. The plaintiffs include Yang’s wife, Kim Sun-hee, and union official Hong Seong-heon, who was present at the time of the incident. The defendants are the state, Chosun Ilbo, and former Minister of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport Won Hee-ryong. The amount of compensation for damages is 1 million won per defendant.

In the complaint, they claimed, "It is a clear violation of the Personal Information Protection Act that an insider of the Chuncheon District Prosecutors' Office or Gangneung Police Station leaked the CCTV footage of the union official." They added, “If the video was leaked because the Chuncheon District Prosecutors’ Office did not take the necessary measures, the country, as the processor of personal information, should be held responsible.”

Regarding the report of Chosun Ilbo, they said, “The report that a fellow worker aided and abetted suicide is based on malicious intent,” and added, “We sent a proof of content to the Chosun Ilbo in August last year asking for a correction, but they have remained silent.”

The Chosun Ilbo reported on May 16 last year that a union official who was present at the time of the incident may have aided and abetted Yang’s suicide. The article was accompanied by a photo of what is believed to be a CCTV footage from the complaint room of the Gangneung branch office of the Chuncheon District Prosecutors’ Office. “I wonder if he was trying to use the death of his colleague as a driving force for their struggle,” Won wrote on Facebook, referring to the article.

On May 22 last year, the construction union filed a police complaint against the Chosun Ilbo, former minister Won, and unnamed persons who provided the CCTV footage on charges of defamation and violation of the Personal Information Protection Act. On May 26, the Chuncheon District Public Prosecutor‘s Office was granted a request to preserve the CCTV. In July of last year, the union submitted an appraisal to the police that the photo used in the Chosun Ilbo article was the same as the CCTV footage. The police cleared Hong of allegations of aiding and abetting Yang’s suicide and closed the case.

However, the police investigation has been slow. On June 1 last year, the police called the construction union to investigate the complainant, and repeatedly said, "We are checking how the CCTV footage was leaked." In January, the union submitted an opinion letter to the police complaining that “the defendants have not been investigated seven months after the complaint was filed.” The letter also claimed that the investigation was unusually slow compared to other similar cases, such as the leak of confidential information in the investigation of the late Lee Sun-kyun, who committed suicide after being investigated for allegedly taking drugs.

Cho Ji-ho, the head of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, said in a briefing in February, "We are continuing to investigate by summoning those specified as defendants." An official from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's anti-corruption investigation team spoke to a reporter on the phone that he could not “confirm the case under investigation."

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.