Shoddy Police Work in [former S. Korea president]Roh Investigation

Chosun Ilbo ^ | 5/28/2009

[bruinbirdman]

Police on Wednesday said contrary to earlier testimony former president Roh Moo-hyun was alone, unattended by a bodyguard, when he leapt to his death off Owl Rock, a cliff behind his house in Bongha Village. Also, the time of his suicide was not 6:45 a.m. as previously announced, but between 6:14 a.m. to 6:17 a.m. Police say they were able to confirm the facts after looking into the telephone records of Lee Byung-chun, the head of Roh's security detail, who used his cell phone to contact bodyguards detail at Roh's residence, telling them at 6:17 a.m. that he could not find Roh. Lee had just gone to a nearby Buddhist temple on an errand and returned to Owl Rock, and it was at 6:45 a.m. that a bodyguard discovered Roh at the bottom of the cliff and took him to hospital. Roh, in critical condition, had been left unattended for half an hour.

Roh's suicide has caused enormous repercussions for the country and is an important incident in Korea's history. Yet for five days, the public had been led to believe a wrong version of the incident. The reason is that Lee said in his initial account that he was looking in another direction when Roh leapt to his death at 6:45 a.m., because the former president said somebody was approaching them. It appears that Lee lied because he wanted to avoid the consequences of his mistake in leaving Roh unattended.

Police did not even bother to inquire deeper into this shoddy testimony and simply announced Lee's false account as the genuine course of events surrounding Roh's suicide. Police did not even try to investigate potential witnesses to cross check Lee's version of the events. During his first testimony to police on Saturday, Lee said he and Roh had hiked to a point close to the Buddhist temple, but this part of the account was left out in the initial announcement. Then on Tuesday, police told reporters they left it out because they didn't think it was important.

Only after they were criticized for conducting a haphazard investigation did police finally get hold of Lee's phone records and verified the facts. The phone records were an essential part of the investigation, yet it took police four days to get their hands on them. The presidential protection detail at Roh's residence knew what had happened yet sat there silently as Lee delivered an account of the events that differed from theirs, which was announced to the public.

The public's nerves are on edge over anything that has to do with Roh's death. If even a minor detail of the investigation is treated carelessly, we could see a repeat of the latest fiasco. This is no time for such mistakes. Already on the Internet, absurd conspiracy theories are being posted by people who seem to have waited for such an opportunity. They are spreading rumors that there are suspicious facts involving Roh's death. To stop these unfounded rumors from spreading, it is essential to reveal the full details of that tragic day and the ensuing police investigation and find out who was responsible for the shoddy investigation.