Park Won-seok: "Chu Mi-ae Turned the Weight of Investigation Command into 'Three Penny Worth'"

"Playing Political Games Using Yoon Seok-yeol as a Sacrifice" Criticized
"Investigation Supervision on Lime Lobby Suspicion Should Have Had Clearer Grounds"

Choo Mi-ae, Minister of Justice / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Ju-hyung] Former Justice Party lawmaker Park Won-seok claimed that Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae is "playing a political game using Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol as a scapegoat" after she issued an investigative directive excluding Yoon from investigations related to five cases, including the Lime Fund Asset Management lobbying allegations.

On the morning of the 21st, Park appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' and pointed out, "Removing Prosecutor General Yoon's command authority is an abuse of power," adding, "Yoon himself has openly declared his recusal, yet this is being brought up again."

He continued, "In conclusion, Justice Minister Choo is trivializing the weight of the Minister of Justice's command authority over the Prosecutor General," explaining, "The reason she exercised command authority during the prosecution-media collusion case was because there was a possibility that Prosecutor Han Dong-hoon, a close aide of Yoon, might be shown leniency, but at that time, Han was not even indicted."

He added, "In this case, the grounds for exercising command authority should have been clearer," and criticized, "So far, the only evidence presented is a letter from former Star Mobility Chairman Kim Bong-hyun."

Furthermore, he argued, "From Prosecutor General Yoon's perspective, two of the four cases mentioned in the investigative directive have been concluded as no charges, and there is no evidence that Yoon exerted any influence over those cases," stating, "In such circumstances, ordering Yoon to be excluded from the investigation is, in my view, close to humiliating him."

Yoon Seok-yeol, Prosecutor General / Photo by Yonhap News

Meanwhile, on the 19th, Justice Minister Choo issued an investigative directive excluding Prosecutor General Yoon's command authority over five cases, including the Lime Fund Asset Management lobbying allegations and the case involving Yoon's wife, Kim Kun-hee, and the Kobana bribery incident.

In the directive sent to Prosecutor General Yoon that day, Choo stated, "Various allegations have been raised regarding the recently surfaced Lime Asset Management lobbying case and cases involving the Prosecutor General himself, his family, and close aides," adding, "Given that the Prosecutor General himself cannot be completely excluded from involvement in the Lime lobbying case, a fair and independent investigation is more necessary than ever."

She also said, "Cases involving the Prosecutor General, his family, and close aides should be recused according to the 'Code of Ethics for Prosecutors' and the 'Code of Conduct for Prosecutorial Officials,' so it is appropriate to entrust the investigative team with conducting a thoroughly independent investigation," and concluded, "For these reasons, I hereby issue this directive pursuant to Article 8 of the Prosecutors' Office Act."

Earlier, on the 18th, the Ministry of Justice announced that after directly investigating former Chairman Kim, who was identified as the mastermind behind the Lime case, there are suspicions that Prosecutor General Yoon received detailed reports on opposition politicians and prosecutor misconduct but did not thoroughly direct related investigations.

Meanwhile, this is the second time Justice Minister Choo has exercised her investigative directive authority since the 'prosecution-media collusion' case in July, which involved Prosecutor Han, a close aide of Yoon. At that time, Choo issued the directive to halt the procedure when Yoon attempted to convene a professional investigative advisory panel.

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