Participants in a rally paying respects at the memorial altar for the Yangpyeong public official. Yonhap News. 

Conservative groups set up a memorial altar on the 12th for Mr. A, a public official from Yangpyeong County, Gyeonggi Province, who was found dead while under investigation regarding allegations of special favors for first lady Kim Keon-hee's family in the Heungjigu district.

Groups including the New Liberal Solidarity and the People Power Party Ordinary Members Council held a rally on the sidewalk in front of the KT West Building in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, where the special prosecutor's team for Kim Keon-hee is located, and set up a makeshift memorial altar.

Participants bowed before the memorial tablet and chanted slogans such as "We condemn the coercive investigation." Kim Min-soo, a supreme council member of the People Power Party, also visited.

Mr. A was found dead in his home on the 10th, eight days after undergoing an investigation by the special prosecutor. A handwritten document contained content suggesting he had been subjected to a coercive investigation.

However, the special prosecutor's office fully denied the allegations, stating, "We guaranteed meal and rest times and ensured his safe return home," and added, "There was no coercion or appeasement."

The police are scheduled to conduct an autopsy on the 13th to determine the cause of death.

Yonhap News