Lawyer Park Gyeong-cheol holding a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Center on November 25. [Photo = Channel A screen capture]Lawyer Park Gyeong-ho, the legal representative of the late Jeong Hee-cheol, former head of Danwol-myeon, Yangpyeong-gun, held a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Center on the 24th, strongly criticizing that "the special prosecutor and some media outlets have labeled the deceased's handwritten memo as 'forgery'," calling it a "collusion that insults the deceased twice."

He began by stating, "The special prosecutor, who killed a person, is now attempting to cover up justice with arbitrary media play, devoid of factual verification, and is trying to undermine the rule of law in Korea."

Regarding the controversy over the authenticity of the handwritten memo, he said, "I consulted with the deceased for over an hour and personally verified the original handwritten document and handwriting." He added, "Despite this, New Tampa, Kyunghyang Shinmun, MBC, OhmyNews, and Money Today reported it as 'forgery.' Denying the deceased's final record is to overturn the truth."

Lawyer Park pointed out that the direction of reporting by the special prosecutor and some media outlets was identical. He said, "The special prosecutor steered the cause of death in a direction that casts suspicion on the deceased, and the media amplified and reproduced it. Ultimately, the special prosecutor and the media acted as a single unit." He added, "They damaged the deceased's reputation by repeatedly presenting unconfirmed speculative content."

He also refuted Kyunghyang Shinmun's report that a CCTV request by an aide to Assembly member Kim Seon-gyo was an "attempt to destroy evidence."

Lawyer Park stated, "The CCTV was a document that the National Human Rights Commission investigator requested first, and the aide submitted it via email according to the Human Rights Commission's instructions. It is false to label this as 'evidence destruction' when text messages remain." He emphasized that there was "no room for distortion" by revealing text messages exchanged with the Human Rights Commission investigator and the chief prosecutor at the press conference.

He also pointed out the issue of the National Human Rights Commission's fact-finding announcement being postponed due to the opposition of some members.

He said, "The announcement was delayed even though the investigation chief reported circumstances of the special prosecutor coercing and enticing testimony. The Human Rights Commission is failing to fulfill its role in the face of actual human rights violations."

Lawyer Park criticized MBC radio and OhmyNews reports as "articles that uncritically accepted speculative remarks without verifying the facts." He criticized, "Does it make sense to ask a former Democratic Party councilor about a matter that should be confirmed with the Yangpyeong County Office? Even basic journalistic procedures have been broken."

Finally, Lawyer Park said, "The special prosecutor must promptly release the deceased's will and the results of the mobile phone forensics and launch an investigation. This is the first step in restoring the honor of the deceased, who was unjustly sacrificed."

#JeongHeeCheolDanWolMyeonHead #SpecialProsecutorMediaControversy #AuthenticityOfHandwrittenMemo #LawyerParkGyeongHo #YangpyeongCountyCase #HumanRightsCommissionDelay #EvidenceDestructionControversy #CollusionAllegations #DefamationBattle #HanmiIlbo