Yoon Seok-yeol's Side: "Jeong Han-jung's Customized Appointment Should Be Excluded"... Focus on 2nd Disciplinary Committee Witness Hearing Tomorrow

Customized Appointment Proposal for Disciplinary Action
Low Likelihood of Disciplinary Committee Acceptance
Focus on Attendance and Testimony of 8 Witnesses Tomorrow

Yoon Seok-yeol's legal representatives, Lee Seok-woong (left) and Lee Wan-gyu, are attending the Prosecutor Disciplinary Committee for Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol held at the Ministry of Justice building in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province on the 10th.
Gwacheon=Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporters Seokjin Choi and Kyunghwan Bae] The side of Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol is raising voices criticizing the legitimacy of the disciplinary procedure a day before the second disciplinary committee meeting. On the 14th, they strongly criticized the decision to appoint Professor Jeong Han-jung of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Law School as the acting chairman of the disciplinary committee as a "customized appointment," saying he should be excluded from the disciplinary committee. However, the disciplinary committee announced its plan to complete the disciplinary resolution at the second review session on the 15th.

Yoon’s special attorney, Lawyer Lee Wan-gyu, said on the day, "We plan to submit an opinion letter regarding the committee composition to the Ministry of Justice today." The opinion letter included the point that since Chairman Jeong Han-jung was newly appointed as a disciplinary committee member after the disciplinary request against Prosecutor General Yoon, it could be misunderstood that he was "customized for this case," and therefore, he should serve as a member only from the next case, not this one. Lawyer Lee also included the request to "use alternate members to form a seven-member disciplinary committee due to vacancies caused by recusals."

Chairman Jeong is classified as a pro-government legal professional. He was active in the Ministry of Justice’s Past Prosecution Affairs Committee and made negative remarks about Prosecutor General Yoon at seminars on prosecution reform with pro-government figures. Therefore, many view him as a person urgently deployed by Minister Choo to resolve Yoon’s severe disciplinary decision. It was also revealed that Chairman Jeong currently serves as a director of the Government Legal Corporation, which is supervised by the Ministry of Justice, intensifying controversy over bias.

However, it seems unlikely that Chairman Jeong, Deputy Minister of Justice Lee Yong-gu, Professor Ahn Jin of the Law School, and Shin Sung-sik, head of the Anti-Corruption and Serious Crime Division at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office? the four remaining members?will accept Yoon’s side’s claims. Chairman Jeong said in an interview with a media outlet the day before, "The defense side also agreed to conclude the meeting on the 15th."

Therefore, on the 15th, the disciplinary committee is expected to conclude procedural issues such as additional recusal requests from Yoon’s side as quickly as possible and then proceed to the main witness examination for substantive judgment on the disciplinary reasons.

Previously, the disciplinary committee, in addition to the seven witnesses requested by Yoon’s side, summoned Shim Jae-cheol, Director of the Prosecution Bureau at the Ministry of Justice, as a witness ex officio.

Among the eight witnesses, four?Lee Sung-yoon, Chief Prosecutor of Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office; Shim Jae-cheol, Director of the Prosecution Bureau; Han Dong-soo, Head of the Inspection Department at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office; and Jung Jin-woong, Deputy Chief Prosecutor of Gwangju District Prosecutors’ Office?are classified as the so-called "Choo Mi-ae line" within the prosecution or figures who actively assisted Minister Choo’s disciplinary request against Prosecutor General Yoon. They are expected to give testimony unfavorable to Yoon.

However, Lee, Han, and Jung are likely to be absent from the disciplinary committee, and Chairman Jeong said the day before, "We have obtained Yoon’s side’s consent to omit questioning for witnesses who do not appear on the 15th."

On the other hand, four witnesses?Ryu Hyuk, Inspector General of the Ministry of Justice; Lee Jung-hwa, Prosecutor of the Inspection Department who exposed the order to delete inspection reports; Son Jun-sung, Head of Investigation Information at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office; and Park Young-jin, Chief Prosecutor of Ulsan District Prosecutors’ Office involved in the 'Channel A case' investigation?are classified as likely to give testimony favorable to Prosecutor General Yoon.

During the witness examination, attention will focus on what testimony Son, the author of the "Judge Information Collection Document," Shim, who reportedly delivered the document to the Ministry of Justice, Lee, and Inspector Ryu will give regarding this most contentious disciplinary reason among the six charges against Yoon. If present, Han, the head of the Inspection Department, is also expected to be questioned as an important witness related to this disciplinary reason.

Some speculate that the disciplinary committee’s decision to limit direct questioning of these witnesses by Yoon’s side is intended to omit witness oaths to avoid burdening witnesses with perjury penalties. In response to such criticism, Professor Jeong softened his stance in a media interview on the day, saying, "Depending on the situation, we may give Yoon’s side an opportunity for direct questioning."

Meanwhile, Minister Choo posted on her Facebook early that day, reaffirming her commitment to prosecution reform.

Referring to the film "Democracy in Crisis," which depicts the situation of democracy in Brazil, Minister Choo criticized the prosecutor in the film who indicted the president despite no corruption charges, saying, "Prosecutorial and judicial powers can also betray the people and become tools to usurp democracy." Later that morning, she revised the post’s title to "A Coup Disguised as Law," reinforcing her negative view of recent movements by Prosecutor General Yoon and the prosecution.

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