Special Prosecutor Lee Myung-hyun, who is investigating the alleged obstruction of the probe into the Marine who died in the line of duty, arrives at his office in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the 20th. June 20, 2025 

Controversy is re-emerging surrounding Lee Myung-hyun (63), a lawyer appointed by President Lee Jae-myung as the Special Prosecutor for the "Marine Corps Corporal Chae" case, due to allegations of inappropriate collusion with convicted criminal Kim Dae-up during a past investigation into military service corruption. 

According to the testimonies of multiple investigative sources and reports from outlets such as Monthly Chosun, it has come to light that while Lee was serving as the acting head of the Prosecution Department at the Ministry of National Defense in 1998, he recruited Kim Dae-up as an investigative informant—a process that led to the leaking of internal investigation materials and cases of extortion.

After graduating from Korea University College of Law, Lee Myung-hyun was commissioned as a military legal officer and obtained his law license during his roughly 10 years of service. Around 1998, he participated in the investigation into military service corruption as the acting head of the Higher Prosecution Department of the Ministry of National Defense’s Prosecution Corps, where he was also involved in the investigation of a military service exemption solicitation case involving Warrant Officer Won Yong-soo.

The initial leader of this investigation was then-Lieutenant Colonel Ko Seok (acting Prosecution Department Head), who proposed the establishment of a "Joint Military-Prosecution Investigation Unit" to eradicate military service corruption; its creation was approved in December 1998. 

However, in November 1998, just before the launch of the joint unit, Lieutenant Kim Hoon—the son of General Kim Cheok—died under suspicious circumstances at the JSA. Ko Seok was "transferred" to handle that specific case, and Lee Myung-hyun took his place. Ko Seok believes that this personnel move was a systematic effort to exclude him by those implicated in the military service corruption at the time, such as Park Byeong-gi, the Head of the Legal Affairs Office at the Ministry of National Defense, and his deputy, Yoo Gwan-seok, who were concerned about his commitment to the investigation. 

Subsequently, the Joint Military-Prosecution Unit operated under the leadership of Lee Myung-hyun. He analyzed over 10,000 documents related to military service corruption, tracked allegations of lobbying involving political and business circles tied to military exemptions, and officially announced the investigation results in April 1999.

During this process, Lee Myung-hyun utilized civilian Kim Dae-up as an informant. While Kim used internal military information to help identify military doctors and officials from the Military Manpower Administration involved in corruption, he also committed crimes himself.

He was convicted for threatening the spouse of a military doctor, known as "J," and extorting hundreds of millions of won. Although not included in the official case records, according to a source who participated in the investigation at the time, Kim Dae-up was also accused of sexually assaulting J. 

The internal military documents used by Kim Dae-up are known to have been internal investigation records collected by the then-head of the Ministry of National Defense’s Prosecution Department, Ko Seok (acting at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel). Multiple sources claim that "Lee Myung-hyun leaked these materials to Kim Dae-up without authorization." 

The issue is that even after knowing these criminal activities, Lee Myung-hyun sided with Kim Dae-up in the lead-up to the 2002 presidential election regarding the "Byeongpung incident"—the military service corruption allegations raised by Kim against the son of candidate Lee Hoi-chang. This centered on the so-called "Kim Do-sul statement." Lee Myung-hyun claimed to have seen this statement (whereas Ko Seok claimed he never saw such a document) and backed Kim Dae-up. 

However, the court eventually ruled that the allegations were false, and Kim Dae-up was sentenced to prison for violating the Public Official Election Act and for defamation. There are also claims that Lee Myung-hyun assisted the Roh Moo-hyun campaign during that election. This raises the possibility that Lee Myung-hyun conspired with Kim Dae-up to fabricate the "Byeongpung" case, a point that requires thorough verification.

Some in the legal community are questioning the qualifications of the Special Prosecutor himself. One lawyer remarked, "With limited practical experience as a prosecutor and insufficient experience in public trials, if there are also suspicions of involvement in past fabrication cases, the independence and credibility of the Special Prosecutor are fundamentally compromised." He added, "If political loyalty was the criterion for appointment, it is difficult to guarantee the fairness of the investigation." There is growing concern that this could lead to another politically motivated or fabricated investigation.

Furthermore, this Special Prosecutor has focused his investigation on former Marine Corps Investigation Group Commander Im Seong-geun—a key witness in the Corporal Chae case—while excluding the 50th Infantry Division Commander, Major General Moon Byeong-sam (Korea Military Academy 49th Class), who held actual command responsibility. This has sparked controversy over "shifting responsibility," raising doubts about his understanding of the military chain of command and the impartiality of the investigation.

Meanwhile, Ko Seok, the former head of the Prosecution Department who stood on the opposite side of Lee Myung-hyun regarding the use of Kim Dae-up during the massive military service corruption investigation, was recently subject to a search and seizure. The reason cited was that he had a record of phone calls with former President Yoon Suk-yeol during the Corporal Chae incident and a "27-second" call with former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup, who was staying in Ukraine. It is understood that at the time of the call, Ko was reaching out to the former minister to request a congratulatory speech for the inauguration ceremony of the Yongin Security Forum. 

Kim Dae-up is regarded as a figure deeply involved in presidential election manipulation through political ties with 5.18 merit holders, and Lee Myung-hyun has been identified as his collaborator. The bias and controversies over past conduct that have surfaced since the beginning of the investigation are fueling fears that this may be the "prologue to another fabrication."

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