‘How to kill mobile phone’

What would happen if one puts a mobile phone in the microwave oven and switches on the oven. What happens in this case would be the same as the situation wherein if one puts in a gold-plated coffee mug in the microwave oven, the gold plate gets blackened. The metallic Bluetooth antenna on the top and bottom of the mobile phone will start burning before others, and the phone will eventually catch fire due to combustion of the battery. The memory chip containing call data is metallic substance, which is not an exception. Electromagnetic waves in the microwave oven function to conduct electricity, which makes a wire flow electric current and causes excessive heat and electric spark.

Ahn Jong-beom, former senior presidential secretary for policy coordination, reportedly advised Lee Seung-cheol, vice chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries, to do this before the prosecution's raid and search operation. This is circumstantial evidence that soon after the Choi Soon-sil gate surfaced, those embroiled in the scandal systematically sought to destroy evidence. The related document in question also kindly advises them to heavily hammer a location one third from the upper right side of their cell phones' display, and discard the phones in a river, where tracking is impossible.

If a mobile phone is submerged in the water or gets damaged, it is possible to take out the memory chip to restore it, but if the memory chip itself is damaged, restoring is impossible. Hence, throwing a mobile phone into a river or sea is known to be the way to most thoroughly destroy evidence in the mobile phone. However, the advice to hammer a location one third from cell phone's upper right side is inaccurate. The location of the memory chip differs for all different mobile phone models, but the chip is most often located on the lower right side. Such technical method cannot be provided by Ahn, who is an economist. He must have received advice from an expert in digital forensics.

It is truly shocking to learn that the senior presidential secretary drafted a document on how to destroy evidence, which crime rings could be using. It is ironical that Ahn's mobile phone and 17 dairy books with detailed notes on President Park’s instructions were all seized by prosecutors. Along with former presidential secretary Jeong Ho-seong’s mobile phone containing voice records of his calls with President Park and Choi Soon-sil, Ahn's materials have become important evidence to prove suspicions surrounding the president.