YOON’S INAUGURATION GUEST LIST

[Anchor Lead]

Controversy continues over the guest list for President Yoon Suk-yeol's inauguration, which included a police officer investigating a case involving the president's in-laws. Critics are saying that inviting the officer, in essence, amounted to pressuring the investigation.

[Pkg]

President Yoon Suk-yeol's in-laws are accused of receiving special privileges from Yangpyeong-gun county government in association with the Gongheung zone development project. A civil activist group reported this case to the police last year and
subsequently, the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency is investigating the allegation. It was belatedly found that Investigator A in charge of the case was invited to the president's inauguration in May. Investigator A reportedly told his superior that he was invited as a recipient of the Blue Dragon Volunteers Award last year. The senior officer, superior to the investigator, told him to request official papers... and permitted him to attend the ceremony once the document arrived from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. But the investigaor was not the only one who received the volunteer award last year, but he was the only one out of the four recipients who was invited to the inauguration for having been an awardee. Another recipient who attended the ceremony was selected as one of the twenty citizens who represented hope for the nation, specially invited to stand on the inauguration stage. Some recipients were not contacted at all.

[Soundbite] Blue Dragon Volunteer Award recipient(VOICE MODIFIED) : "Nothing like that happened. You were never invited? Never."

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said that the guest list was compiled by the inauguration organizing committee and all the working staff did was to send out the official papers. The presidential office said that it is hard to confirm the invitation list. Controversy has been brewing over the issue of inviting a police officer in charge of investigating the president's family to the inauguration ceremony. The police have said that Investigator A isn't in a position to sway the outcome and that the investigation is proceeding in accordance to law and principle. But the activist group that reported the property development allegations claim that Investigator A is indeed in charge of the investigations and inviting him to the inauguration was 'intervening with the investigation process.‘

[Soundbite] Ahn Jin-gul(Dir., People’s livelihood Economy Research Institute) : "Calling the investigator in charge and inviting him is pressure and implies that if he cooperates, he could rise in the ranks quickly."

The Democratic Party also urged the presidential office to disclose the truth about the suspicious invitation list. As for the investigation into the property development project in the Gongheung area, witness questioning is almost over and suspects, including President Yoon's mother-in-law, are expected to be summoned soon.