Clear up the suspicion of external pressure

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials and other law enforcement authorities must get to the bottom of the case.

A police investigation on an international drug smuggling scheme is suspected of having been tainted by external pressure. In a hearing by the National Assembly Public Administration and Security Committee, two police witnesses gave contradicting testimonies, deepening suspicions.

Superintendent Paik Hye-ryeong who blew the whistle on the case said that he was ordered by his boss at the Yeongdeungpo Police Station, senior superintendent Kim Chan-soo, to delay the press briefing on the case, saying the presidential office was “seriously concerned” about the case. Kim, the chief of the Yeongdeungpo station at the time, said that he had never mentioned the presidential office. One of them must be lying.

The opposition Democratic Party (DP) arranged a hearing on the case in hopes of building it up just like the Marine’s death case involving the presidential office. The governing People Power Party (PPP) claims that the affair lacks substance. The rivaling parties bickered throughout the hearing in the legislature.

The mystery lies with the National Police Agency and the Korea Customs Service. The case goes back to January last year when two Malaysians who were part of a drug ring passed through Incheon International Airport with bags of meth taped onto their bodies. They testified to the police who caught them that they had the help of a customs officer to safely enter the country. The police raided the customs in the airport in September last year. But police officers were told to skip the customs involvement before their press briefing 15 days later.

Police officer Paik named his boss Kim and superintendent general Cho Byung-no, the director of public safety at the Seoul Metropolitan Police who called to specifically order not to make any mention of the customs officer, in the press briefing. An irrelevant senior police officer making a specific order to an investigation head cannot be normal.

The Customs Service said it only asked for press withholding in respect to the presumption of innocence and denied that it sought help from the presidential office. But it does not make sense for a suspect to meddle with a police statement. The truth would be hard to find as the testimonies contradict each other.

But the political wrangling over the affair cannot go on forever. The head of the National Police Agency said that Cho of the Seoul Metropolitan Police was demoted to a provincial police agency. But the matter cannot end so lightly. The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials and other law enforcement authorities must get to the bottom of the case. Coincidentally, senior superintendent Kim was dispatched to the presidential office since the incident. The affair is too fishy to let go easily.