The police on Sunday attempted to enforce an autopsy warrant on Baek Nam-gi, a farmer who died last month after being knocked unconscious by a police water cannon last year, but retreated upon the resistance of the family members, liberal civic groups and opposition political parties.

Though officials vowed to respect the bereaved family’s resistance to the autopsy, its unheralded move, coming just two days before expiration of the warrant, raised suspicions that it may push ahead with the plan despite all odds.

“We will not forcefully execute the warrant, should the bereaved family oppose (the autopsy),” Hong Wan-seon, commissioner of Seoul’s Jongno Police Station, said in a briefing at Seoul National University Hospital after failing to meet with Baek’s bereaved family.
The announcement was made at around 12:52 p.m., hours after some 800 police officials raided the hospital, where the joint task force on elucidating Baek’s death has been staging a protest since last month.

The surprise visit was met with fierce resistance from the bereaved family members and their supporters, who cried out that the enforcement of the autopsy was an attempt to steal the body and thus conceal the truth about Baek’s death.

Protesters set up tents and barricades around the hospital’s funeral hall, some dozens of them forming a “human barricade” by binding themselves one to another with a chain.

Rep. Pyo Chang-won of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, who is also a forensic expert and former professor at Korea National Police University, hurried to the scene to join the rally.

But the police chief alluded that the enforcement plan has not yet been totally scrapped.

“This is what we have decided for today. As for tomorrow and the day after, further discussions will be needed.”

Also, the police held ground on not revealing the full text of the disputed warrant, claiming that the bereaved family members should first meet with police officials and agree to the execution in order to gain access to the court-issued document.

Amid the disputes following Baek’s death, which took place after 317 days of unconsciousness, the Seoul Central District Court on Sept. 28 issued the autopsy warrant, on condition that the police and bereaved family agree on the location, observers and procedure.

But the family members reiterated its former stance that autopsy was unnecessary for a death which was obviously caused by police aggression.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)