Controversy is growing over former Marine Corps 1st Division commander Lim Sung-keun, who was asked for an arrest warrant in connection with the death of Coporal Chae, saying he remembered a mobile phone password he had not remembered just before the warrant was requested.
According to political circles on the 22nd, former divisional commander Lim said on the 20th, "We found a password for a mobile phone (an existing mobile phone used at the time of the death of a wounded soldier) early this morning, so we provided the password to the special prosecutor this afternoon."
"I tried countless times to find the forgotten password, but after repeated failures, I miraculously checked the password at around 2:30 a.m. today," he said, adding, "I felt God's love."
Lim has been suspected of ordering an operation to search for the missing of heavy rain as the commander of his unit when Chae died. The high-ranking government official's crime investigation office secured Lim's mobile phone in January last year, but Lim has been having difficulty in forensics because he did not cooperate with the investigation, saying, "I don't remember the password of 20 digits."
Coincidentally, the day former division commander Lim said he remembered the password is the day when the special prosecutor filed an arrest warrant for five key suspects related to the "suspected external pressure of investigation", including former Defense Minister Lee Jong-seop. The next day, on the 21st, the special prosecution team filed an arrest warrant for Lim on charges of professional negligence and violation of orders under the Military Criminal Law.
Politicians are criticizing former division commander Lim's sudden and timely regression of memory.
Kim Byung-ki, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, said at a Supreme Council meeting on the same day, "You don't deserve a Marine or a soldier. "I'm calling people like you like a mischief," he said. "You should not wish for a miracle of immunity, but be strictly judged by the law."
At the end of last year, Han Dong-hoon, former representative of People's Power, who did not provide a mobile phone password to the prosecution over a similar issue, was summoned. Earlier, the prosecution confiscated the iPhone 11 of Han, the former representative of People's Power, who was suspected of being involved in the case during the investigation into the alleged attempt to force a Channel A reporter, but failed to forensics because it failed to unlock the 24-digit password.
Cho Kuk, chairman of the emergency committee of the Cho Kuk Innovation Party, sarcastically said on his SNS account, "I hope that this 'love of God' will be given to Han Dong-hoon, who avoided the investigation of the 'Channel A incident' by setting his mobile phone password to about 20 digits."
After the election of Yoon Suk Yeol as president, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office cleared Han Dong-hoon of charges and returned the phone. On the other hand, prosecutor Jeong Jin-woong, who seized and searched Han Dong-hoon's mobile phone in the Channel A case, was in trouble, such as being charged with graft assault on the grounds of a physical fight in the process, he said. "Fortunately, prosecutor Jeong was acquitted later."
Rep. Park Joo-min of the Democratic Party also called Lim's too late remarks on the submission of passwords "a rare remark," adding, "I hope God's love will be reached by Han Dong-hoon, the former leader who forgot more than 20 digits of the password."