Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Following Han Seo Hee providing evidence to the Anti-Corruption And Civil Rights Commission (ACCRC) that YG tried to cover up B.I‘s involvement in a drug case, and then details that YG tampered with a witness (her), police have announced that they have formed a 16-person task force to investigate the allegations.
On June 14, Director Na Won Oh of the detective division at Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency revealed, “We formed an exclusive team that will be in charge of investigating suspicions that have been raised from B.I’s alleged attempt to purchase and use drugs. [The team] consists of 16 people from the drug investigation unit and the legal support team.”
Han Seo Hee, of course, will be summoned again, and they also mention investigating YG ties to the police.
Director Na Won Oh said, “We believe that Han [Seo Hee] will do her best to cooperate with our investigation as she has shown her determination by being the whistleblower. If situations change and we need to investigate more people, we will put in more manpower and try our best to resolve all suspicions that have been raised so far.”Regarding YG’s suspected ties to the police, Na Won Oh stated, “When looking at the investigation report and reports from [our] informants at the time, we are unable to confirm that [YG] tried to conceal the truth. We feel regretful because it would have been better if we had called in B.I for questioning and investigated more thoroughly.” Na Won Oh concluded, “We will carry out the investigation while being open to all possibilities regarding suspicions of B.I’s drug purchase and usage, [YG’s] destruction of evidence, and dereliction of duty by the police officer who was in charge [of the case in 2016].” Another source from the police also revealed that Yang Hyun Suk will also be questioned by the police.
I’m sure they will take Han Seo Hee’s evidence into account, but given what we’ve seen of police investigating themselves for their roles in these scandals like with Burning Sun, I wouldn’t hold my breath that they’ll do anything on that front regardless of how blatantly shady it seems.
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Furthermore, lawyer Bang Jung Hyun went on ‘Kim Hyun Jung’s News Show‘ and talked about how testimony regarding B.I and the drug case disappeared from police records.
On June 14, lawyer Bang Jung Hyun appeared on CBS’s “Kim Hyun Jung’s News Show” and provided background information on how he became suspicious of YG’s ties to the police. Bang Jung Hyun stated, “The whistleblower (Han Seo Hee) came to me near the end of April and said that while she submitted KakaoTalk messages as evidence and testified against Kim Han Bin (B.I’s given name) [to the police in 2016], the drug case was still covered up and concealed. She said she wanted to [publicly] reveal it.” The lawyer continued, “I looked up [records of] the case to determine whether or not [the whistleblower] is telling the truth, but the KakaoTalk messages that were supposedly submitted were left out of official documents. I found many suspicious things while looking through the investigation records.” Lawyer Bang Jung Hyun further explained, “The whistleblower was arrested on August 22, 2016. She wrote two statements at Yongin Dongbu Police Station, during which she told the police about [using drugs] with Kim Han Bin.” “A week later on August 30, the whistleblower changed her statement during her third questioning by the police,” continued Bang Jung Hyun. “At the time, the police asked her why she is changing her statements while she already admitted to [using drugs] with Kim Han Bin in her first two rounds of questioning. With that being said, related records of [the whistleblower talking about Kim Han Bin during the first two rounds of questioning] should exist, but I was unable to find records of it. [The whistleblower’s statements] regarding Kim Han Bin had disappeared.”
When he questioned police as to where these records went, they denied they ever took place during questioning.
When lawyer Bang Jung Hyun asked the police about the missing documents, the police answered that such conversation did not happen during questioning. Instead, they said they did not record the conversation in official documents as it happened privately before Han Seo Hee was released.
A remarkable a coincidence that the chat evidence and records of two questionings where she says B.I received and did drugs with her are gone, but the one where she exonerates him exists.
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Also of note, the ACCRC issued a warning on behalf of Han Seo Hee due to violation of whistleblower protections, and says she is planning to take legal action.
On June 14, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission stated through a press release, “Recently, we informed the authorities and the media about the possibility of a violation of the law regarding reports making inferences to or identifying the whistleblower who disclosed information under a fake name.” The Commission explained, “The law stipulates that no one should inform others, disclose, or report personal information or other related data without consent from the informant, knowing that he or she is a whistleblower. Violation of the law may result in up to five years in prison or up to 50 million won (approximately $42,000) in fines.” Min Seong Sim of the Commission commented, “The key to the protection of whistleblowers is making sure that the identity of the whistleblower is not disclosed, but the recent reports suggesting the identity of the whistleblower are quite concerning. The media, which is spearheading the increase of transparency in our society through the reporting of corruption and violations of public interest, should pay greater attention to the protection of whistleblowers.” Min Seong Sim also requested the media to refrain from reporting the identity of the whistleblower by attaching an official document. In the official document, the Commission stated, “In the case that the media reports on corruption cases and matters related to whistleblowers in the future, we ask for your cooperation to ensure that the whistleblower’s confidentiality obligations are fully complied with.” It was also reported that the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission plans to make a response based on the informant’s choices. A source from the Commission commented, “The informant is preparing to take legal action. There will be problems that can be resolved by the investigative authorities, and in the case of the Commission, it will make decisions in accordance to the will and decision of the informant.”
Yeah, I didn’t get why the Korean media had published her identity, as while I understand she’s a public figure and criminal, she was also still a whistleblower.
Hence I choose to only identify her after she came forward and identified herself, but I guess it’s rather pointless to do when everybody ran it days before.
