Police officer handpicked by the president slams prosecution's probe team

▲ Baek Hae-ryong, a police superintendent, speaks to reporters at the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors Office in Seoul on Oct. 16, 2025. (Yonhap)

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Police officer handpicked by the president slams prosecution's probe team

SEOUL, Oct. 16 (Yonhap) -- A police superintendent, who has drawn media attention after President Lee Jae Myung directly ordered him to be seconded to a prosecution-police joint drug investigation team, denounced the team as an "illegal organization" on Thursday because the prosecution itself is under the probe.

Baek Hae-ryong made the controversial remarks on his first day on the investigation team set up at the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors Office.

The case dates back to early 2023, when Baek, then chief of the criminal investigation division at the Seoul Yeongdeungpo Police Station, raised suspicions that the office of then President Yoon Suk Yeol, the prosecution and the National Intelligence Service attempted to cover up the alleged involvement of customs officials in a Malaysian drug smuggling case. The prosecution launched an investigation team into the case in June, and Lee ordered last Sunday that Baek be dispatched to the team.

"I have claimed that the joint investigation team is an illegally formed organization. But I began to work on the team. As a public official, my convictions are shaken," Baek told reporters. He said he came to work because he has an obligation to follow the personnel orders.

"The prosecution is the subject of the (joint) investigation because its leadership is involved in the suspicions of external pressure," he said.

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