Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol Proposes Formation of 'Independent Investigation Unit'... Minister Chu Mi-ae Largely Accepts 'Investigation Command' (Comprehensive)

Kim Young-dae Appointed as Head of Seoul High Prosecutors' Office
To Receive Only Investigation Results Without Directing Investigations
Attention on How Minister Chu Will Respond

Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol is commuting to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul by car on the morning of the 8th. Meanwhile, Minister of Justice Chu Mi-ae reiterated on the 7th that it is inappropriate for Prosecutor General Yoon to lead the investigation into the alleged collusion between prosecutors and media, urging him to accept the investigation command.

Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] On the 8th, Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol proposed the formation of an independent investigation headquarters including the current Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office investigation team regarding the 'media collusion' case related to Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae's investigation directive. This comes six days after Minister Choo's investigation directive was issued.

There appears to be some controversy over whether Prosecutor General Yoon's proposal literally follows Minister Choo's directive to "guarantee independent investigation by the existing investigation team." However, since the Ministry of Justice previously declared it would consider the appointment of a special prosecutor as 'non-compliance with orders' and instead proposed the formation of an investigation headquarters including the existing investigation team, and also stated that it would not directly command the investigation, it can be seen as largely accepting Minister Choo's directive.

Therefore, depending on how Minister Choo accepts Prosecutor General Yoon's proposal to form an 'investigation headquarters,' it is expected that the future conflict between the Ministry of Justice and the prosecution will either be resolved or escalate to a climax.

On the afternoon of the same day, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office stated, "The Prosecutor General respects the directive of the Minister of Justice and, considering opinions inside and outside the prosecution, proposed to the Minister of Justice that the head of the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office form an independent investigation headquarters including the current Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office investigation team, to investigate fairly and strictly without receiving direct command from the Prosecutor General, and only report the investigation results to the Prosecutor General."

Also, Prosecutor General Yoon proposed not to command the investigation but only to receive reports on the investigation results. This appears to accept Minister Choo's directive to guarantee the independence of the investigation team.

Earlier, on the 2nd, Minister Choo instructed Prosecutor General Yoon to stop the procedure of the expert investigation advisory group that was assessing the appropriateness of the media collusion suspicion investigation and to guarantee the independence of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office investigation team.

Meanwhile, Prosecutor General Yoon chose to entrust the command of the investigation to the head of the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Young-dae), the superior institution of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office where the investigation is currently underway. This reflects Yoon's distrust of Lee Sung-yoon, head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office.

Kim Young-dae, the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office Chief Prosecutor (age 56, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 22), whom Prosecutor General Yoon recommended as the head of the investigation headquarters, graduated from Daegu Yeongnam High School and Kyungpook National University’s Department of Law and Graduate School of Law, and began his career as a prosecutor at Cheongju District Prosecutors' Office in 1993.

He is one class senior to Prosecutor General Yoon and Prosecutor Lee, who are both from class 23 of the Judicial Research and Training Institute.

He is a leading expert in information, technology (IT), and forensic investigation within the prosecution, having served as head of the Advanced Crime Investigation Division 2 at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office and as Planning Officer for Scientific Investigation at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office. He has held positions such as First Deputy Chief Prosecutor at Daegu District Prosecutors' Office, Head of the Scientific Investigation Department at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, Chief Prosecutor at Changwon District Prosecutors' Office, Chief Prosecutor at Busan District Prosecutors' Office, and Chief Prosecutor at Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office, before being appointed as Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office last year.

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