Two Female Chief Prosecutors, Classmates from Judicial Research and Training Institute, Engage in Public Dispute Over 'Prosecutor Personnel Deal' Allegations

Deputy Chief Prosecutor Jeong Yumi Accuses Im Eunjeong of "Distorting to Disgrace the Organization"
Deputy Chief Prosecutor Im Eunjeong Responds, "Jeong Yumi Either Doesn't Remember or Is Lying"

Eom Eun-jeong, Chief Prosecutor at Ulsan District Prosecutors' Office
Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] Two female senior prosecutors who are classmates from the Judicial Research and Training Institute are publicly exchanging heated arguments over allegations of 'prosecutorial personnel dealings.'

Im Eun-jeong (46, 30th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute), senior prosecutor at Ulsan District Prosecutors' Office, rebutted the claim by Jeong Yu-mi (48, 30th class), senior prosecutor at Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office, who criticized Im's actions as behavior that disgraces the organization, saying, "Either she doesn't remember or she is lying."

On the afternoon of the 14th, Senior Prosecutor Im posted on her Facebook that on February 21, 2018, she met Yoon Dae-jin, then First Deputy Chief of the Central District Prosecutors' Office, and that Jeong Yu-mi, then head of the Central District Prosecutors' Office's Trial Division 3, was present with them. She wrote, "It is unlikely that Senior Prosecutor Jeong did not listen carefully at the time because the related conversation was too long to have been missed."

Senior Prosecutor Im said, "Deputy Chief Yoon asked for my understanding, saying that he could not promote me to senior prosecutor because of Prosecutor Seo Ji-hyun's Me Too case, then proposed overseas training and earnestly persuaded me to seek personal happiness." She added, "While I nodded and responded seriously to the lengthy and sincere persuasion by Deputy Chief Yoon, I was deeply displeased inside."

Photo by Eunjung Lim, Ulsan District Prosecutors' Office Chief Prosecutor, Facebook capture

She continued, "The intention to send a noisy person abroad was blatant, and not only is it hard to trust the rest of the words of someone who lied about the Me Too issue, but also it was insulting to have the position of the female deputy chief of the Busan District Prosecutors' Office, where our classmates were already serving their second term, presented as if it were a tempting deal with a fellow Central District Prosecutors' Office senior prosecutor sitting next to me."

Senior Prosecutor Im stated, "It is unlikely that Senior Prosecutor Jeong did not listen carefully at the time because the related conversation was too long to have been missed. Either she does not remember or she is lying, but since Senior Prosecutor Jeong cannot claim to have a better memory than I do and it is someone else's matter, I am inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt that she does not remember."

She added, "'So-yoon (Yoon Dae-jin)' rose to become the most powerful figure in the prosecution after the Moon Jae-in administration took office and continuously influenced prosecutorial personnel decisions, which is a well-known fact," and criticized, "Senior Prosecutor Jeong's principled rebuttal that So-yoon, who was only a First Deputy Chief, could not have talked about personnel matters seems insincere, which makes me somewhat skeptical about the honesty of her other claims."

Senior Prosecutor Im reiterated, "Senior Prosecutor Jeong's principled rebuttal that So-yoon (Yoon Dae-jin), who was only a First Deputy Chief at the time, could not have talked about personnel matters seems insincere, which makes me somewhat skeptical about the honesty of her other claims."

Earlier, on the 5th, Senior Prosecutor Im claimed in a media contribution article, "In February 2018, a prosecutorial executive apologized for not being able to promote me due to being a witness in Prosecutor Seo Ji-hyun's Me Too case, and suddenly recommended overseas training while mentioning an appointment as head of the Women's and Children's Crime Investigation Division at Busan District Prosecutors' Office."

She also said, "In September last year, a Ministry of Justice executive contacted me and set the condition to stop social media activities and column writing and to withdraw accusations against former and current executives while reviewing personnel appointments for the Inspection Officer's Office."

In response to these revelations, Senior Prosecutor Jeong posted a message titled 'To Senior Prosecutor Im Eun-jeong - Including Opinions on Personnel Discretion' on the prosecution's internal communication network e-Pros on the morning of the 14th, rebutting the claims.

She said, "Unless you misunderstood something, I can only think that you intentionally distorted the situation at the time to disgrace the organization," and criticized, "If you want to criticize the organization by expressing yourself externally as if representing the opinions of the silent majority of colleagues, at least the content should be truthful and agreed upon by the majority of members."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.