Petitioner says police are watching political winds while delaying investigation, urges National Assembly to act

Independent Rep. Kim Byung-kee, former floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, greets Democratic Party lawmakers Kim Seung-won and Song Young-gil at the first plenary session of the July extraordinary National Assembly session on July 20. [Yonhap]
Independent Rep. Kim Byung-kee, former floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, greets Democratic Party lawmakers Kim Seung-won and Song Young-gil at the first plenary session of the July extraordinary National Assembly session on July 20. [Yonhap]

A public petition calling for the expulsion of independent Rep. Kim Byung-kee — former floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea representing Seoul's Dongjak-gu — was filed Saturday with the National Assembly as a police investigation into multiple misconduct allegations against him drags on for nearly a year.

The petition, posted Saturday on the National Assembly's electronic petition website (petitions.assembly.go.kr), stated that "police are watching the political winds while the political world stays silent, saying it is waiting for the results of the investigation," and called for Kim's expulsion from the Assembly.

The petitioner argued that "the authority of a National Assembly member is something the people have temporarily entrusted, and if that authority was used for a child's transfer admission and employment, for a spouse's receipt of money and valuables, and for defense costs to conceal those acts, then the people's authority has been privatized." The petitioner urged the Assembly to initiate disciplinary proceedings against Kim under Article 155 of the National Assembly Act, conduct a review by the Special Ethics Committee and expel him over 13 misconduct charges filed against him.

Article 155 of the National Assembly Act, which governs the discipline of Assembly members, allows the Assembly to impose sanctions after a review by its ethics committee when a member has violated laws or ethical regulations.

The petitioner alleged that police are delaying a conclusion to the investigation out of deference to the political establishment, and urged the National Assembly to step in.

"With the abolition of supplementary investigative authority and the launch of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, investigations into power-related crimes have in effect become the sole responsibility of the police, and the police's conclusion is now the final conclusion," the petitioner said. "The Kim Byung-kee case was the first test of that structure."

"Yet nearly a year after the complaint was filed, it has not even been decided whether to refer the case for prosecution," the petitioner said. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency had indicated its intent to move quickly but was overruled by the National Investigation Headquarters, and nothing changed even after the headquarters chief was replaced. "Every time observers said a conclusion was imminent, local elections, a change in command, or a party convention stood in the way and the decision was postponed," the petitioner said. "It is not that the investigation is incomplete — the conclusion has already been reached but is simply not being released."

"If it was the National Assembly that dismantled the checks on investigative agencies, then the Assembly must also take responsibility for that void," the petitioner said, arguing that the Assembly's disciplinary authority "is not something that must wait for the outcome of criminal proceedings — it is an independent power of the Assembly." The petitioner appealed for the Assembly to "prove that it can set itself right."

Kim is under investigation on multiple allegations: that he used his influence over his second son's transfer admission to Soongsil University and employment at cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb (bribery charges); that he received political donations in exchange for candidate nominations from former Dongjak-gu council members (violation of the Political Funds Act); that he pressured a former aide who had taken a job at Coupang Inc. with threats of personnel disadvantages (obstruction of business); that he attempted to suppress a Dongjak Police Station investigation into his spouse's misuse of a corporate credit card (abuse of authority); and that he unlawfully seized and disclosed a former aide's Telegram account (violation of the Protection of Communications Secrets Act).

Police have produced no results more than 11 months after opening the investigation into Kim. After critics raised the issue of investigative neglect, Korean National Police Agency investigation chief Hong Seok-gi told a regular press briefing at the agency on Monday that "the more important a case involving a prominent figure, the more it becomes a test of the police's capabilities, so the leadership's position is to raise the rigor and completeness of the work," adding that the case "is in its final stages."


arin@heraldcorp.com