Disciplinary Committee Suspends Yoon Seok-yeol for 2 Months... Unprecedented in Constitutional History (Update 2)

Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae and Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl (right)
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] On the 16th, the Ministry of Justice's Prosecutor Disciplinary Committee imposed a two-month suspension on Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol. This is an unprecedented disciplinary action against a Prosecutor General in constitutional history.

After discussions and voting among the committee members, the decision was made past 4 a.m. that day. It took about 17 hours and 30 minutes since the meeting began. Initially, it was expected that the committee would decide on the disciplinary action and its severity around midnight the previous day, but the discussion was reportedly prolonged unexpectedly.

The disciplinary vote was conducted by four attending members. According to the Prosecutor Disciplinary Act, if the most unfavorable opinion toward the accused does not reach a majority of the attending members, the next unfavorable opinions are added sequentially until a majority is reached, and the decision is made based on that opinion.

The committee consisted of Acting Chairperson Jeong Han-jung, Professor Ahn Jin from Chonnam National University Law School, Deputy Minister of Justice Lee Yong-gu, and Shin Sung-sik, Head of the Anti-Corruption and Serious Crimes Division at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office. It has not yet been disclosed who agreed to the suspension.

The disciplinary action against Prosecutor General Yoon, decided by the committee that day, will be executed by President Moon Jae-in after a recommendation from Minister of Justice Chu Mi-ae. If President Moon enforces it, Prosecutor General Yoon will be suspended from duty for two months. During the suspension period, Deputy Prosecutor General Cho Nam-gwan is expected to act as the Prosecutor General.

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