This Week's Prosecutor Mid-Level Executive Personnel Changes... Focus on Scope and Central District Prosecutor's Office Command Line Replacement

Prosecutors Trusted by Chief Prosecutor Lee Seong-yoon Expected to Be Placed in Command Line
Focus on Whether 'Wolseong Nuclear Plant' and 'Kim Hak-ui Illegal Departure' Investigation Team Leaders Will Be Retained

On January 28, Park Beom-gye, the newly appointed Minister of Justice, arrived at the Dongbu Detention Center in Songpa-gu, Seoul, to check the COVID-19 quarantine situation as his first official schedule of the term, responding to questions from the press. Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] The Ministry of Justice will carry out a mid-level prosecutor personnel reshuffle after the Lunar New Year holiday.

Following the high-level personnel reshuffle that was limited to four transfers, the scale of this mid-level reshuffle is also expected to be small. Attention is focused on whether Lee Seong-yoon, the retained Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, will replace the Central District Prosecutors' Office command line, which had conflicts over handling the Channel A case.

To ensure continuity in the investigations of important ongoing cases such as the 'Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant Economic Feasibility Evaluation Manipulation' case and the 'Kim Hak-ui Illegal Departure Ban' case, Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye, who retained Lee Dubong, Chief Prosecutor of Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office, and Moon Hong-seong, Chief Prosecutor of Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, is also expected to maintain the investigation command line including deputy chief prosecutors, senior prosecutors, and prosecutors in charge of investigative work.

Small-scale reshuffle expected due to few follow-up factors

According to the legal community on the 14th, the Ministry of Justice will announce the mid-level prosecutor personnel reshuffle within this week.

On the 7th, Minister Park conducted his first high-level prosecutor reshuffle since taking office, transferring Cho Jong-tae, Chief Prosecutor of Chuncheon District Prosecutors' Office, to the vacant position of Deputy Director of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Policy Department, and transferring Kim Ji-yong, Deputy Chief Prosecutor of Seoul High Prosecutors' Office, to Chuncheon District Prosecutors' Office. Additionally, Shim Jae-cheol, Director of the Ministry of Justice Prosecutor's Office, and Lee Jeong-su, Chief Prosecutor of Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office, swapped positions.

Except for filling vacancies, there were no promotions to chief prosecutor level, and all frontline high prosecutors except the Chief Prosecutor of Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office were retained. It can be seen as a postponement of personnel changes until after Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl's retirement in July.

Therefore, the upcoming mid-level reshuffle is also expected to be minor. Typically, before a high-level reshuffle, chief prosecutors leaving the prosecution and deputy chief prosecutors promoted to chief prosecutors create vacancies that are sequentially filled, expanding the scale of personnel changes. However, since the previous chief prosecutor-level reshuffle was limited to four transfers, there are no factors for follow-up personnel changes.

Greatest interest in replacement of Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office command line

The biggest focus is whether the command line of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office will be replaced.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office has four deputy chief prosecutors who command their respective departments: the 1st Deputy Chief Prosecutor overseeing the Criminal Division, the 2nd Deputy Chief Prosecutor overseeing the Financial and Corporate Crime Division, Construction and Real Estate Crime Division, Investigation Division, and Women and Children Crime Investigation Division, the 3rd Deputy Chief Prosecutor commanding the Public Investigation Division, and the 4th Deputy Chief Prosecutor commanding Special Investigations and Violent Crime Investigations.

During Prosecutor General Yoon's disciplinary incident, 1st Deputy Chief Prosecutor Kim Wook-jun tendered his resignation, leaving the 1st Deputy Chief Prosecutor position vacant. The 1st Deputy Chief Prosecutor, who ranks second in the Central District Prosecutors' Office after Chief Prosecutor Lee Seong-yoon, is expected to be filled by a close aide trusted by Lee.

Deputy Chief Prosecutors Choi Seong-pil (2nd), Koo Ja-hyun (3rd), and Hyeong Jin-hwi (4th), who moved positions in last September's reshuffle, are not expected to be transferred this time based on timing. However, some deputies who opposed Chief Prosecutor Lee during the investigation initiation or disciplinary request against Prosecutor General Yoon may be replaced at Lee's request.

In particular, Deputy Chief Prosecutor Choi (2nd) and Criminal Division 1 Chief Prosecutor Byun Pil-geon, who clashed with Chief Prosecutor Lee over the approval of no charges for Prosecutor Han Dong-hoon in the 'Channel A Coercion Attempt' case, are reportedly strongly requested by Lee to be replaced.

Additionally, attention is on whether Lee Dong-eon, Head of Criminal Division 5 at Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office investigating the 'taxi driver assault' case involving Deputy Minister of Justice Lee Yong-gu, Kwon Sang-dae, Head of Public Investigation Division 2 handling the Ulsan mayoral election interference case, and Joo Min-cheol, Head of Economic Crime Criminal Division investigating the Optimus Fund fraud case, will be retained.

Will Lee Seong-yoon's spokesperson be replaced?

The status of Park Se-hyun, the specialized spokesperson of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office who was retained in the previous reshuffle, is also drawing attention.

Typically, the Ministry of Justice spokesperson, known as the mouthpiece of the Minister of Justice, or the Supreme Prosecutors' Office spokesperson, known as the mouthpiece of the Prosecutor General, are excluded from investigative duties and endure difficult public relations work. Recognizing this, unless there are special faults, it is customary in the next reshuffle to transfer them to preferred workplaces or positions favored by prosecutors.

However, due to unprecedented conflicts between the Ministry of Justice Minister and the Prosecutor General triggered by the investigation of former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, and conflicts between the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, the Ministry of Justice and Supreme Prosecutors' Office spokespersons and the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office spokesperson have faced more difficulties in public relations than usual, and instead of receiving personnel benefits, they have been subjected to demotions.

Former Supreme Prosecutors' Office spokesperson Kwon Soon-jung, who assisted Prosecutor General Yoon, was transferred to Jeonju District Prosecutors' Office as deputy chief prosecutor in September last year, and former spokesperson Park Jae-eok, who served during former Minister Cho Kuk's tenure, was transferred to Pohang branch of Daegu District Prosecutors' Office in February last year and then to Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office as Human Rights Supervisor in September of the same year.

Park Se-hyun is regarded as the ace among the 29th Judicial Research and Training Institute classmates within the prosecution. He is evaluated by his peers as an excellent prosecutor in both investigative ability and personality.

Since starting as the specialized spokesperson of the Central District Prosecutors' Office in December 2019, he continued in the role after being transferred to Seoul High Prosecutors' Office in February last year. Chief Prosecutor Lee trusted him once again and kept him in the public relations role.

Especially, due to the revision of the prosecution public relations guidelines promoted during former Minister Cho Kuk's tenure, the public relations duties previously divided among the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Deputy Chief Prosecutors of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office were consolidated under Park alone, likely causing an extreme workload.

However, when then Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae suspended Prosecutor General Yoon's duties and requested disciplinary action at the end of last year, Park reportedly became uncomfortable with Chief Prosecutor Lee after conveying internal criticism of Lee within the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, who sided with Minister Choo.

For these reasons, there is speculation that the Central District Prosecutors' Office spokesperson may be replaced in this reshuffle. Attention is focused on who will be appointed as the next spokesperson following Park and where Park will be transferred.

Will the investigative teams at Daejeon and Suwon District Prosecutors' Offices be maintained?

With Lee Dubong retained as Chief Prosecutor of Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office, attention is also on whether Lee Sang-hyun, Head of Criminal Division 5 at Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office, who is leading the investigation into the 'Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant Economic Feasibility Evaluation Manipulation' case, will be retained.

Replacing the head of the department directly leading the investigation could affect the overall direction and speed of the investigation.

The status of Lee Jeong-seop, Head of Criminal Division 3 at Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, who is investigating the illegal departure ban allegations against former Deputy Minister of Justice Kim Hak-ui, is also being watched.

Moon Hong-seong, Chief Prosecutor of Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, who was retained in this reshuffle, has been avoiding directing the investigation since a second public interest report related to former Deputy Minister Kim was submitted.

The whistleblower in the second public interest report claimed that in 2019, the Anyang branch of Suwon District Prosecutors' Office detected signs of illegal emergency departure of former Deputy Minister Kim during an investigation into information leaks about Kim's departure ban, and tried to start an investigation, but the investigation was halted due to external pressure from the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Anti-Corruption and Violent Crime Division at the time.

The head of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Anti-Corruption and Violent Crime Division at that time was Lee Seong-yoon, current Chief Prosecutor of Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, and Chief Prosecutor Moon was a senior researcher in that division.

Therefore, due to concerns about conflicts of interest, Chief Prosecutor Moon has refrained from involvement in the investigation. This makes the role of Chief Prosecutor Lee in charge of the investigation even more important.

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