Marine Corps Commandant Lt. Gen. Kim Kye-hwan arrives at the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials in Gwacheon, south of Seoul, on Tuesday. (Yonhap)
The anti-corruption investigation office again questioned Marine Corps Commandant Lt. Gen. Kim Kye-hwan as a power abuse suspect Tuesday over allegations of external pressure placed on the military investigation into last year's death of a young Marine.
Kim appeared at the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials in Gwacheon, south of Seoul, at 9:20 a.m., while remaining tight-lipped when asked several questions by reporters.
Kim, who was already grilled by the CIO for 15 hours on May 4, is suspected of exerting undue influence on the Marine Corps investigation team's handling of the inquiry involving the young Marine who died during a mission to search for civilian victims of heavy downpours last summer.
The Marine Corps investigation team, then led by Col. Park Jung-hun, reportedly asked the police in August last year to probe eight suspects over the soldier's death. But the military prosecution retrieved the case from the police later and reduced the number of suspects to two after alleged interference from above.
The CIO plans to call in Park as a witness in the afternoon, raising speculation that a cross-examination may be conducted with Kim over various suspicions, including whether President Yoon Suk Yeol and former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup were involved in the alleged interference in the Marine Corps investigation team. (Yonhap)
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