Reexamining Suspicions About Choo's Son... High Prosecutors' Office and District Prosecutors' Office Restart Investigation

High Prosecutors' Office Reviews Reinvestigation; District Prosecutors' Office Investigates Eastern District Chief's Accusation... May Influence No-Charge Conclusion

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The controversy over the alleged special treatment of Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae's son, Seo, regarding military leave benefits, which had subsided, is expected to flare up again. Following the review of a reinvestigation into the case, consideration has also begun for a complaint against Kim Gwan-jung, the head of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office, who was responsible for the investigation.

According to the legal community on the 16th, the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office, which received records related to Seo's special treatment allegations from the Eastern District Prosecutors' Office on the 13th, will start re-examining the case this week. This involves reviewing the entire process from the start of the investigation to the decision not to prosecute. The Eastern District Prosecutors' Office had concluded on September 28 that there was 'no suspicion' regarding Seo's allegations.

Within the prosecution, there is a strong belief that the High Prosecutors' Office is likely to order a reinvestigation. Before the Eastern District Prosecutors' Office's decision not to prosecute, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office had also instructed supplementary investigations. Cho Nam-gwan, Deputy Prosecutor General, mentioned at last month's National Assembly audit, "The key witness's testimony was reversed, and it was necessary to clarify the circumstances of the reversal and why the testimony became unreliable," indicating that supplementary investigations were ordered.

The point that the High Prosecutors' Office will re-examine is also the "circumstances of the key witness's testimony reversal." They plan to review the reversal of testimony by Captain A, the support officer of Seo's unit, and investigate why the Eastern District Prosecutors' Office skipped the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's supplementary investigation order to determine if the conditions for reinvestigation are met.

The complaint against Prosecutor Kim has also begun to be investigated. Captain A's side filed a defamation complaint against Prosecutor Kim with the Supreme Prosecutors' Office. The case was assigned to the Criminal Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office on the 6th, and the review of the complaint has been completed. The investigation team is currently coordinating the timing for questioning the complainant. Captain A's side raised issues during last month's National Assembly audit regarding Prosecutor Kim's statements that "the support officer was questioned four times, but the testimonies never matched," and "the support officer had deleted records before the search and seizure."

In the legal community, since the key issue in both the complaint and the reinvestigation review is the "circumstances of the witness's testimony reversal," it is expected that significant repercussions will arise depending on the judgments of the Central District Prosecutors' Office and the High Prosecutors' Office. If either of the two concludes that "there was a problem," it would effectively refute the Eastern District Prosecutors' Office's decision of no suspicion.

In this process, the judgments of High Prosecutor Cho Sang-chul and Prosecutor Lee Sung-yoon are also noteworthy. High Prosecutor Cho indicted Deputy Prosecutor General Jeong Jin-woong of the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office without detention on charges of official violence under the Special Act during the search and seizure of Prosecutor Han Dong-hoon, who was accused of assaulting Prosecutor Han. Despite Minister Choo promoting Deputy Prosecutor Jeong, he was ultimately brought to trial. On the other hand, Prosecutor Lee, following Minister Choo's instructions, is focusing investigative efforts on cases related to Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl. Prosecutor Lee also ordered the search and seizure of Prosecutor Han, ignoring the recommendation of the Prosecutorial Investigation Deliberation Committee.

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