No Evidence Found for Assassination Implication
BFN  [Text] Seoul, May 30 (YONHAP) -- The joint military-prosecution investigation team, which probed the assassination of President Pak Chong-hui by then Central Intelligence Agency Director Kim Chae-kyu in October 1979, had found no evidence that then Army Chief of Staff and martial law commander, Gen. Chong Sung-hwa, was an accomplice in the slaying, a former team member testified recently. Paek Tong-nim, 57, who served as chief investigator of the Defense Security Command and concurrently as a key member of the joint investigating team, told the prosecution that no concrete evidence of Chong's involvement had been detected in the course of probing the assassin Kim, according to a spokesman for the Seoul District Public Prosecutor's Office. The joint investigation headquarters' announcement on Dec. 24, 1979, charging Chong with high treason was based not on any concrete evidence but on what he did after after Kim killed Pak on the night of Oct. 26, 1979, Paek was quoted as saying. The Seoul District Public Prosecutor's Office is looking into a criminal suit filed by the victims of the Dec. 12 "coup d'etat-like incident of the Army" against the perpetrators, including former Presidents Chon Tu-hwan and No Tae-u. Chong Sung-hwa is one of the victims. Paek dismissed as "not true" then Defense Minister No Chae-hyon's statement on Dec. 13, 1979, that martial Law Commander Chong was arrested for interrogation because new evidence was discovered in the course of investigating the assassination. The joint probe team felt the need to question Chong because when Kim killed Pak he was nearby and Prosecutor Chong Kyong-sik, a member of the joint team, called on the martial law commander at his office three times to question him about his actions on the assassination day, Paek was quoted as saying. Paek said that without evidence supporting his involvement in the assassination and without then President Choe Kyu-ha's permission, the joint military-prosecution investigation headquarters, led by then Defense Security Commander Maj. Gen. Chon Tu-hwan forcibly arrested Chong, seemingly because of the headquarters' "political motive," suggesting that the Dec. 12 incident was a mutiny by the "new military elite" to topple the government. The prosecution is considering summoning lawyer Won Kang-hui, who as military prosecutor indicted Chong Sung-hwa on charges of abetting high treason, for questioning. Won recently said there was no criminal evidence against Chong when he indicted him, adding the military prosecution then made "a different evaluation" of his actions on the assassination day. The prosecution is expected to shortly conclude its probe into whether Chong was an accomplice in the slaying of Pak Chong-hui in October 1979.
joint military-prosecution investigation team;president pak chong-hui;gen. chong sung-hwa;assassination day;assassination;criminal evidence;concrete evidence;assassin kim;military prosecution