Lee Jae-jung: "Yoon Seok-yeol Faction Massacre? It Was Breaking the Personnel Practices Based on Lines"

On the 9th, Lee Jae-jung, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' and evaluated the Ministry of Justice's announcement of the senior prosecution personnel reshuffle on the afternoon of the 8th as "a personnel appointment that departed from the existing personnel centered on specific departments and had fairness and balance."
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Shinwon Yoon] On the 9th, Lee Jae-jung, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, evaluated the Ministry of Justice's high-ranking prosecutor personnel reshuffle carried out the previous day as "a personnel reshuffle with fairness and balance, departing from the existing personnel centered on specific departments."

Lee appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' that morning and said, "Many internal members of the prosecution will agree from the positive perspective that it was a personnel reshuffle that broke away from the unbalanced personnel framework where promotion lines were decided within specific departments."

He continued, "As the Ministry of Justice also stated, prosecutors who had been in charge of frontline criminal trial work and criminal prosecution work were actually not given much consideration in the promotion line," adding, "From the perspective of evaluating the individual capabilities and achievements of excellent frontline prosecutors in line with the reform direction to return the prosecution's core work to trials, this is also a facet of internal reform within the prosecution."

Regarding suspicions from some quarters that the personnel reshuffle was intended to shake up cases involving the so-called 'Yoon Seok-yeol line,' he explained, "It is actually difficult in high-level personnel matters to completely exclude someone just because they are close to Prosecutor General Yoon or because they initiated an investigation," and added, "Once an investigation begins, it must be completely separated from personnel matters, and it is not a sacred area that must be guaranteed independence within any organizational hierarchy. The investigation process can be fully evaluated and is subject to personnel verification."

He also said, "Although it might cause misunderstandings by appearing to have a certain appearance, internal members believe that such personnel reshuffles rather help restore public trust and assist the prosecution organization in regaining public confidence."

When asked whether the demotion of the former head of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office who investigated former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk and the head who investigated allegations of Blue House-directed investigations was a measure of accountability for the investigations, he replied, "In terms of the organizational chart, it is not a demotion but a promotion," and added, "There are limited positions available for promotion within the high-ranking prosecutor personnel layer. Also, since these investigations and their methods and timing were subject to public criticism, I believe these aspects should be considered in personnel decisions, but I do not view these aspects as directly linked to the personnel reshuffle."

He further stated, "Among the usual regular promotion and transfer personnel reshuffles, this level of position change is naturally expected," and added, "Nevertheless, it is impossible to say that regular promotions should not be conducted simply because investigations are ongoing. Please consider this as part of the prosecution reform that slightly departs from the existing personnel principles, which differ somewhat from previous years."

Regarding criticisms that Minister Choo did not have time or opportunity to hear Prosecutor General Yoon's opinion, he said, "According to the Prosecutors' Office Act, the Minister of Justice has the right to propose appointments regarding prosecutors' positions. The final decision-maker for personnel is the President," and added, "'Hearing opinions' is not the same as receiving a review. Therefore, the Minister of Justice intended to 'face-to-face process' by hearing opinions directly from the Prosecutor General, but the Prosecutor General did not show up at the scheduled time, causing the Minister of Justice to cancel her schedule and wait throughout the afternoon. This is insubordination."

Regarding Rep. Kwon Seong-dong of the Liberty Korea Party, a former prosecutor, saying, "Isn't this a signal telling Prosecutor General Yoon to resign?" he emphasized, "I think those who view this as a demotion by anti-reform forces, including Rep. Kwon and other members of the National Assembly's prosecution line, are looking from one perspective," and added, "It would be good to carefully examine the objective evaluation of the personnel itself, the backlash against the series of reform directions, and the opinions of frontline prosecutors."

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