Probe into alleged outside pressure on drug investigation pits Baek against Im

Officer files complaint against Seoul Eastern District Prosecutor Im on charges of abuse of authority, defamation

Baek says his team was isolated and effectively blocked from conducting a real investigation

Police Inspector Baek Hae-ryong, who has alleged outside pressure on a drug investigation, filed a complaint with police on Aug. 14 against Im Eun-jeong, chief prosecutor of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office, with whom he clashed while serving on a joint investigative task force. Baek speaks to reporters in a brief press conference outside Songpa Police Station in Songpa-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday before appearing for questioning as the complainant. [Yonhap]
Police Inspector Baek Hae-ryong, who has alleged outside pressure on a drug investigation, filed a complaint with police on Aug. 14 against Im Eun-jeong, chief prosecutor of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office, with whom he clashed while serving on a joint investigative task force. Baek speaks to reporters in a brief press conference outside Songpa Police Station in Songpa-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday before appearing for questioning as the complainant. [Yonhap]

Police Inspector Baek Hae-ryong, who clashed with Seoul Eastern District Chief Prosecutor Im Eun-jeong while serving on a joint police-prosecution task force set up to investigate alleged outside pressure on a drug probe, appeared at a police station Tuesday after filing a complaint against Im on charges including abuse of authority.

Songpa Police Station summoned Baek that day for his first round of questioning as the complainant.

Before appearing, Baek told reporters the substance of his complaint: that Im had failed to guarantee him real investigative authority and a functioning work environment during the task force's operations, obstructing his rights as an investigator.

"After being seconded to the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office, I was unable to use KICS — the Criminal Justice Information System — for about a month," Baek said. "Even after that, the internal approval chain and authorized signatories needed for communications-based investigations were never put in place." He added that Im had only ordered him to report on his investigative findings near the very end of his secondment, by which point the basic conditions for conducting an investigation had still not been met.

Baek's attorney, Lee Chang-min, said the president had directed Baek to be seconded to the joint task force at the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office to conduct a collaborative investigation with the existing team, but that after the secondment Baek's unit was never formally integrated into the task force's organizational structure. "They were in a situation where they could not properly carry out even voluntary investigative measures, let alone coercive ones such as search and seizure," Lee said.

Lee added that Im had said at the time she would operate Baek's team "like an independent small police station," but that in practice Baek had been unable to access even the original case files from the customs drug investigations he had personally conducted, nor could he access the task force's other investigative records. "The gist of Tuesday's press conference is that Baek and his team were ultimately isolated and prevented from conducting any substantive investigation," Lee said.

Baek filed the complaint against Im with police on Aug. 14, alleging abuse of authority and obstruction of rights, as well as defamation through the publication of false statements.

Baek joined the joint task force — formed at the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office in October last year to investigate allegations that customs officials were involved in drug smuggling — but pushed back against Im and other supervisors, saying they had failed to guarantee his team real investigative authority. He left the task force after participating for roughly three months.

The Seoul Eastern District task force, which conducted its investigation separately from Baek's team, announced its final findings in late February, concluding there was no substance to the allegations of customs involvement in drug smuggling or of outside pressure on the investigation.

At the time, the task force announced that the investigator — referring to Baek — had "fallen into confirmation bias and pursued an overzealous investigation based on false statements by drug smugglers." It also said it had confirmed that fabricated investigative documents had been prepared and filed, and notified the Korean National Police Agency of the disciplinary charges.

Baek has said the task force's announcement was also factually wrong and constitutes defamation through false statements.

Baek's side said the Supreme Prosecutors' Office had announced through an official press release that Baek had fabricated investigative materials or conducted a manipulated investigation, and that Im had posted similar content on her SNS account. "None of it bears any resemblance to the facts," they said.

In 2023, while serving as head of the criminal investigations division at the Seoul Yeongdeungpo Police Station, Baek raised allegations that customs officials were involved in a methamphetamine smuggling case being run by a multinational drug organization. He has since maintained that outside pressure was brought to bear on the investigation after media briefings on the case were scaled back and prosecutors rejected warrant applications.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said allegations had been raised that Baek violated public affairs regulations, investigative rules, and orders and directives during his secondment to the task force beginning in October last year, and the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office called for disciplinary action against him. Baek is currently on standby duty and under an internal affairs investigation.


kido@heraldcorp.com