Police are reviewing the records of 46 unresolved cases handed over by the comprehensive special counsel as they consider how to structure the follow-up investigation. On the separate question of forming an "insurrection special investigation headquarters," however, police said they had received no instructions or opinions on the matter and that it was news to them.
Hong Seok-ki, commissioner of the National Office of Investigation, said at a regular press briefing at the National Police Agency in Seoul's Seodaemun District on the morning of the 28th that police had "received 46 cases from the comprehensive special counsel." He added that investigators were "carefully examining whether they are identical to cases we have been handling and what characteristics they have."
The National Office of Investigation plans to decide on investigative personnel and organizational structure after reviewing the nature, difficulty and scale of the referred cases.
Police are also looking at a past instance in which a special investigation headquarters was set up within the National Office of Investigation to handle cases referred by a special counsel. Officials said they were consulting personnel who took part in that investigation about the appropriate number of investigators given the scale of the cases.
"How we will handle the cases we received from the special counsel, and with what structure, is a matter for us to decide," Hong said. "Not long ago, cases that had been with a special counsel were handled after the National Office of Investigation set up a special investigation headquarters with a commissioner in charge. We are in the process of consulting that precedent."
Police drew a line, however, between reviewing an investigative structure for the referred cases and the separate "insurrection special investigation headquarters" that has recently been discussed. Asked whether the special investigation headquarters mentioned by President Lee Jae-myung referred to a body that would investigate insurrection-related cases separately from the special counsel's remaining cases, Hong said: "We have received no instructions or opinions. This is news to me."
The National Police Agency said on the 23rd that it had "received a total of 46 cases from the comprehensive special counsel and is closely examining the case records while reviewing an appropriate investigative structure."
A second comprehensive special counsel team led by Kwon Chang-young was launched in February to investigate shortcomings and additional allegations left by the so-called "three special counsels," which separately investigated the insurrection case, the Kim Keon-hee case and the case of the Marine who died in the line of duty. As it wrapped up 180 days of investigation, the comprehensive special counsel referred 46 cases involving 150 suspects that it had been unable to conclude to the National Office of Investigation of the National Police Agency.
