[Editorial] Neutral Body Should Investigate Jeon's Death

The controversy over the death of Jeon Yong Cheol, who died after participating in a farmers' protest, has entered a whole new phase. Someone has found a picture of Jeon being moved by fellow farmers from where he first collapsed at the protest site. It is important evidence that directly refutes the police claim that it was at his own home that Jeon fell and hit his head. The results of National Institute of Scientific Investigation's (NISI) autopsy also become less convincing in the wake of the discovery. It said that Jeon suffered from cerebral hemorrhage after falling backwards and hitting his head, and that the bruises on his body appeared while he was being treated.

The NISI's autopsy was accused of being biased in favor of the police from the very start. It wrong for it to have determined that Jeon fell on a "stationary object" and hurt himself that way, without clear basis for determining whether his injury was the result of being hit with a billy club or from falling. Medical experts expressed doubt about the claim the bruises he had all over his body could have occurred during brain surgery. All said, it really looks like NISI's intention was to support the police claim that Jeon fell on his own. Criticism suggesting that NISI issued a political judgment and not just a medical one are not unreasonable.

NISI has a painful past for having caused itself to be suspected of fabricating its findings in the "Gang Gi Hun suicide note case," and of having done so to defend the interests of the government in power at the time. It is sad that it is repeating the same mistake. It would be hard to expect NISI to uncover the cause of Jeon's death now that no one can trust its findings. The only way left is to put together a neutral body of government officials and private medical experts to figure out exactly what happened. The Democratic Labor Party (DLP) has proposed that a National Assembly inquiry commission be organized to look into the matter. That would be a good way of going about it, and we hope the politicians respond to that proposal in good faith.

The Hankyoreh, 29 November 2005.

[Translations by Seoul Selection]