Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office Assigns Criminal Division 1 to Minister Chu Mi-ae's Case of 'Disclosure of Suspected Facts and Abuse of Authority'
On the 26th, Lee Jong-bae, the representative of the Action Alliance for Establishing the Rule of Law, came to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office to submit a complaint against Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae.
View original image[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] A civic group has filed complaints against Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae for the offenses of disclosure of unconfirmed facts and abuse of authority.
According to the legal community on the 1st, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, which received two complaints against Minister Choo, recently assigned both cases to the Criminal Division 1 (Chief Prosecutor Jeong Jin-ung).
Earlier, the civic group Action Alliance for Establishing the Rule of Law (Beopse-ryeon) reported Minister Choo to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office on the 26th for disclosure of unconfirmed facts, stating, "Minister Choo mentioned the gist of unconfirmed facts that 'former Channel A reporter Lee Mo threatened former Value Invest Korea (VIK) CEO Lee Cheol and his family while investigating the ShillaJen suspicions' during her appearance at the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee on the 18th."
Additionally, Beopse-ryeon filed an additional complaint against Minister Choo on the 28th for abuse of authority, arguing that her order for the Ministry of Justice to directly investigate Prosecutor General Han Dong-hoon, who is involved in the ongoing 'media-prosecution collusion' investigation, violated the Ministry of Justice decree stating that "investigations of public officials belonging to the Prosecutors' Office cannot be conducted for the purpose of interfering with investigation, prosecution, or trial."
At the time, Lee Jong-bae, the representative of Beopse-ryeon, stated in a press conference, "Minister Choo's order to initiate a direct investigation based on Article 5-2 of the Ministry of Justice's Inspection Regulations is illegal as it violates the Ministry of Justice decree (Enforcement Rules of the Ministry of Justice and Its Affiliated Agencies Organization Act Article 1-3), which prohibits investigations of public officials belonging to the Prosecutors' Office for the purpose of interfering with investigation, prosecution, or trial," adding, "Therefore, Minister Choo's direct investigation order constitutes an abuse of discretion, forcing Ministry of Justice employees to perform duties they are not obligated to do."
Meanwhile, Beopse-ryeon plans to file an additional complaint against Minister Choo on the morning of the same day for defamation under the Information and Communications Network Act regarding a post Minister Choo uploaded on her Facebook on the 27th about the media-prosecution collusion case.
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The content Beopse-ryeon took issue with is the part stating that "a Channel A reporter and Prosecutor General Han Dong-hoon colluded to target Yoo Si-min."
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