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The family of deceased farmer Baek Nam-ki has yet to even hold a funeral for him, due to the lingering issue of an autopsy, 20 days after his death. Police are blaming the family for being uncooperative, but the family members and a civic group fighting on Baek’s behalf remain concerned that the autopsy may be intended to attribute his death to a cause other than the water cannon jet he was hit by during a protest in Seoul last November. Many are saying the prosecutors, the police, and ruling party lawmakers fed the family‘s distrust of state institutions with their past attempts to slow the investigation and minimize the role of the water cannon in his death. This also explains why many are saying the attitude of state institutions and politicians need to change before the current impasse can be resolved.

daughter of deceased farmer Baek Nam-ki

The main factor in the family’s distrust for the government has been the tepid approach by prosecutors in investigating the cause of Baek’s death. Four days after he was knocked down by a jet from a police water cannon on Nov. 14, Baek’s family lodged a complaint with prosecutors accusing former National Police Agency (NPA) chief Kang Sin-myeong, then Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency chief Goo Eun-soo, and five other police officers with attempted murder. Yet the police investigation remained very sluggish over the more than 300 days that followed. The only progress came seven months after the complaint, when the head of the fourth police corps in command at the scene and three other police officers were summoned individually in June for questioning. It was only after Baek’s death that Goo was brought in for closed-door questioning as a defendant.

The prosecutor’s approach stands in stark contrast with their handling of Korean Confederation of Trade Unions president Han Sang-kyun, who is currently serving a five-year sentence after being tried for organizing the demonstration. Prosecutors detained and indicted Han on Dec. 11, less than one month after the demonstration was held. This explains why family members are calling for a special prosecutor system to be introduced. They maintain that public authorities are being selective about taking action - and that they can‘t expect fairness from prosecutors.

The police are also generating mistrust. On Sep. 26, NPA commissioner general Lee Cheol-seong said, “It is said that when Baek Nam-ki was taken to the hospital, he was bleeding beneath his scalp [subarachnoid hemorrhage], but his doctor said he died of cardiac arrest due to kidney failure.” He added that an autopsy was necessary because the cause of death was unclear. Baek was hospitalized because of a cerebral hemorrhage resulting from an external impact, and his renal failure and other ailments were secondary results of his long stay in the hospital. Baek’s family strongly reject Lee’s claims as an attempt to evade the legal and moral responsibility he should bear as chief of police.

Baek Doraji

The belated spread of the “red raincoat” story by ruling-party lawmakers

The “red raincoat” story, which denies that the cause of Baek’s death was the water cannon, is a typical example of the government’s attempts to scale down or blur its responsibility. The family’s distrust of the government is deepening as even ruling-party lawmakers repeat this story.

The “red raincoat” story was first spread through Ilgan Best (ILBE), an extreme rightist online community, and last November the story became more widely known when it was mentioned by Saenuri Party lawmakers Kim Jin-tae and Kim Do-eup in a National Assembly hearing on the appointment of Kim Soo-nam as prosecutor general. Recently, another Saenuri Party lawmaker, Na Kyung-won, brought the “red raincoat” up again in an inspection of government agencies conducted by the National Assembly.

However, this claim has been denied even by the NPA itself. In May, the police submitted a written refutation to the court that was hearing a civil suit brought against the police by Baek‘s family. In it, the police stated, “Baek fell when struck by the water cannon.” Nowhere did the document say anything that might suggest that the police bear no responsibility because Baek might have been struck by a man in a red raincoat.

In addition to this, on Oct. 17 Kim Jung-hoon, commissioner of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA), revealed for the first time that last December, when the man in the red raincoat was called in for questioning under suspicion of violating the Assembly and Demonstration Act, the theory that he may have fallen on Baek was mentioned. At the time, some members of the National Assembly brought up the need to investigate the man, but the police have acknowledged that they had never seriously considered the “red raincoat” theory as a possible cause of death.

Once Baek died, however, the police began to mention the “red raincoat” theory as one possible cause of death. It has come to light that when the first request for a warrant to do an autopsy on Baek’s corpse was rejected, the police added the “red raincoat” theory as a justification for doing an autopsy in its second request for a warrant. One source in an investigating agency has criticized this as “an attempt to turn the water cannon into an indirect cause by inserting another event in between the water cannon and Baek’s death.”

After being blocked by police from reaching the Blue House

Seoul National University Hospital added fuel to the fire. The doctor in charge of Baek’s case stated on the death certificate that the cause of death was “illness”. This goes against the directives of the Korean Medical Association on the proper way to fill out medical reports, which state that if the primary cause of the patient‘s condition was not illness but some external factor, the cause of death should be recorded as “extrinsic trauma.”

Students and alumni of the university’s medical school issued a statement calling the death certificate “incorrect.” The chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Health Insurance Service and the head of the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service have expressed their opinion that Baek‘s death was caused by external trauma. In an exceptional move, even the Korean Medical Association itself has stated its position that the death certificate is in error. Nevertheless, Baek Sun-ha, the doctor who was in charge of Baek’s case, has not responded to the family’s requests for him to correct the death certificate. He asserts that Baek died because “the family would not assent to life-prolonging treatment,” placing the burden of responsibility on Baek’s own family.

In court, Baek‘s death certificate would serve only as a reference, not as a decisive factor. The hospital is sticking to the death certificate’s statement that the cause of death was illness, and because the president and CEO of the hospital was once President Park Geun-hye’s personal doctor, this has Baek’s family all the more distrustful of the national government.

Hate statements against the bereaved family are making the dispute all the worse. Since Dr. Baek‘s statement that Baek Nam-ki died because the family refused life-prolonging treatment and therefore the death was caused by illness, lawmakers and representatives of conservative groups have been blaming the family for Baek’s death. On Oct. 4, Saenuri Party lawmaker Kim Jin-tae severely criticized the family, writing on Facebook, “With the proper treatment, Baek wouldn’t have died. The day her father died, his daughter posted ‘Light a candle for my father - watch over him’ while she was relaxing in Bali.” That same day, Yoon Seo-in, a webtoonist, posted a single-frame cartoon on the Korea Center for Free Enterprise site that depicted a woman who appeared to be Baek Minjuhwa in a bikini, posting a message on Facebook saying, “Save my father, you X-ing country.” The cartoon was accompanied by the line, “Father’s lying on a bed in intensive care while I lie on a deck chair at a resort.” Topping it off, Jang Gi-jeong, president of Young‘s Liberty Union, stated on Facebook that he would report the family to the prosecutor’s office for murder by negligence.

On Oct. 11, the family‘s lawyers accused Jang, Yoon, and others of defamation of character by making false accusations. Minjoo Party lawmaker Park Ju-min said on Oct. 17, “These are crude efforts to raise the people’s level of exhaustion with this case. They are causing the family and the concerned authorities to take a harder line, leaving no room for negotiation with the police. It’s unfortunate.”

By Ko Han-sol and Heo Seung, staff reporters

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]