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Marine Corps commander summoned by CIO for questioning on alleged influence-peddling case

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Marine Corps Commandant Lt. Gen. Kim Kye-hwan enters the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials in Gwacheon, south of Seoul, on May 4, for questioning over an alleged influence-peddling case related to the death of a young Marine last year. Yonhap

Marine Corps Commandant Lt. Gen. Kim Kye-hwan enters the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials in Gwacheon, south of Seoul, on May 4, for questioning over an alleged influence-peddling case related to the death of a young Marine last year. Yonhap

The anti-corruption investigation office questioned the commander of the Marine Corps, Saturday, as part of a probe into an alleged influence-peddling case related to the death of a young Marine last year, according to officials.

Marine Corps Commandant Lt. Gen. Kim Kye-hwan appeared at the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) in Gwacheon, south of Seoul, in the morning, while remaining tight-lipped when reporters asked him questions.

Kim is suspected of being involved in the process of exerting undue influence on the military prosecution's handling of the inquiry involving a Marine - Chae Su-geun - who died during a search and rescue mission for civilian victims of flooding after heavy downpours last summer.

In October, Col. Park Jung-hun, the Marines' former top investigator, was indicted on charges of insubordination and defamation of his superior after he handed over the probe findings regarding Chae's death to the civilian police despite then Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup ordering the Marine Corps' top commander to hold on to them for more legal deliberation.

Park, who spearheaded the preliminary probe into the case, has claimed Kim ordered the case to be scaled down, citing requests from the Presidential Office.

The military investigation team initially planned to refer eight suspects to the police over the Marine's death but was found to have later reduced the number of suspects to two.

Park said Kim told him he was instructed to scale down the number of suspects after the then defense minister talked on the phone with "the VIP," which refers to a high-level official at the presidential office, on the matter.

Kim reportedly denied the allegations and testified he never mentioned "the VIP" during his conversation with Park in a military prosecution probe last year, accusing Park of cooking up a story.

After questioning Kim, the CIO is expected to summon former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and former Vice Defense Minister Shin Beom-chul on similar charges. (Yonhap)



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