Park Beom-gye, Yoon Seok-yeol and Shin Hyun-soo 'Passing Over' Controversy... What About the Prosecutor Mid-Level Executive Personnel?

Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye (left) and Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] Amid allegations that Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye disregarded the opinions of Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol and Senior Presidential Secretary for Civil Affairs Shin Hyun-soo in the personnel appointments of senior prosecutors at the level of chief prosecutors and above, attention is turning to the upcoming mid-level prosecutor personnel reshuffle.

According to the Ministry of Justice and the prosecution on the 17th, the Ministry of Justice’s Prosecutor’s Office and the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office’s Planning and Coordination Department (Planning Department) are currently discussing specific personnel plans ahead of the mid-level prosecutor reshuffle.

It is reported that no separate meeting between Minister Park and Prosecutor General Yoon is scheduled for the discussion of this mid-level personnel reshuffle. Once the personnel plan prepared by the Ministry of Justice is delivered to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, it is expected that the personnel consultation will proceed with Prosecutor General Yoon sending his review comments.

Earlier, on the 7th, the Ministry of Justice made a minor reshuffle by transferring Chief Prosecutor Jo Jong-tae of Chuncheon District Prosecutors’ Office to the vacant position of head of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Planning Department, and swapping the positions of Shim Jae-cheol, Director of the Ministry of Justice Prosecutor’s Office, and Lee Jeong-soo, Chief Prosecutor of Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office.

Since all frontline high prosecutors and chief prosecutors except for the Chief Prosecutor of Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office were retained without any promotions at the chief prosecutor level, there are few factors necessitating follow-up personnel changes, and the mid-level reshuffle is expected to be minor as well.

The most notable focus is on the replacement of the command line at Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, where Chief Prosecutor Lee Seong-yoon was retained, and whether investigative teams involved in major cases linked to ruling party figures will be moved.

In the case of the Central District Prosecutors’ Office, besides the vacant First Deputy Chief Prosecutor position, it is anticipated that Second Deputy Chief Prosecutor Choi Seong-pil and Criminal Division 1 Chief Prosecutor Byun Pil-geon, who had opposed Chief Prosecutor Lee in disciplinary actions and investigations against Prosecutor General Yoon and the Channel A case, will be replaced by prosecutors trusted by Chief Prosecutor Lee.

There is also interest in whether Lee Dong-eon, Head of Criminal Division 5 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.

Additionally, the status of Lee Sang-hyun, Head of Criminal Division 5 at Daejeon District Prosecutors’ Office, who is investigating the ‘Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant economic feasibility evaluation manipulation’ case, and Lee Jeong-seop, Head of Criminal Division 3 at Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office, investigating the ‘illegal departure ban’ case involving former Deputy Minister of Justice Kim Hak-ui, is also noteworthy.

In the previous personnel reshuffle, Minister Park met twice with Prosecutor General Yoon to discuss personnel plans but became embroiled in controversy over ‘passing over’ Prosecutor General Yoon.

From Minister Park’s perspective, who interprets the Prosecutors’ Office Act’s phrase ‘listen to the opinion of the Prosecutor General’ as ‘hearing opinions’ rather than ‘consultation,’ it cannot be said that he did not make his best effort.

He met Prosecutor General Yoon twice before the personnel reshuffle, and verbally conveyed the major framework of the personnel changes, including ▲ the limited scope of personnel changes ▲ the replacement of Director Shim of the Prosecutor’s Office ▲ the retention of Chief Prosecutor Lee ▲ and the impossibility of Chief Prosecutor Han Dong-hoon’s return to frontline prosecutors’ offices.

On the other hand, from Prosecutor General Yoon’s standpoint, although meetings took place, he feels ‘passed over’ because Minister Park only listened to his opinions on personnel matters without reflecting any of them.

Prosecutor General Yoon initially expected some degree of ‘consultation’ ahead of the first meeting with Minister Park, unlike during former Minister Chu Mi-ae’s tenure.

This expectation was bolstered by President Moon Jae-in’s reaffirmation at a press conference last month that “Prosecutor General Yoon is the Prosecutor General of the Moon Jae-in administration,” and Minister Park’s emphasis on communication with the Prosecutor General even before taking office.

It is known that Prosecutor General Yoon had prepared a fairly detailed personnel plan for the first meeting.

However, Minister Park’s side indicated that acceptance was impossible, and at the second meeting on the 5th, Prosecutor General Yoon earnestly requested that if other personnel opinions could not be reflected, at least the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office staff who were not following his instructions be replaced.

Minister Park, who had initially prepared the personnel plan, reportedly responded to this by saying he would reconsider the personnel plan taking Prosecutor General Yoon’s opinions into account. Prosecutor General Yoon naturally expected to receive the final personnel plan before the announcement and waited, but the personnel announcement was made unexpectedly on Sunday, a holiday.

Prosecutor General Yoon was completely unaware whether Director Shim was moving to Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office, whether Chief Prosecutor Jo of Chuncheon District Prosecutors’ Office was coming to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Planning Department, and since even his last request for replacement of Supreme Prosecutors’ Office executives was not accepted, he can only conclude that Minister Park merely gave the appearance of consultation and proceeded with a de facto unilateral personnel reshuffle.

Shin Hyun-soo, Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs at the Blue House.

Meanwhile, Shin Hyun-soo, the first civil affairs chief from the prosecution in the Moon Jae-in administration who was expected to act as a mediator between Minister Park and Prosecutor General Yoon, has recently reportedly tendered his resignation.

It is said that there was a conflict of opinions between Minister Park and Shin over the placement of Chief Prosecutor Lee, a representative ‘Chu Mi-ae faction’ figure, and Director Shim in the previous personnel reshuffle, and that Lee Kwang-cheol, the Civil Affairs Secretary close to former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, bypassed his superior and led personnel matters with Minister Park, causing friction.

Moreover, the prevailing analysis is that this series of events was triggered by the prosecution’s request for an arrest warrant against former Minister of Industry and Energy Baek Woon-gyu three days before the previous personnel announcement.

If another personnel reshuffle is carried out unilaterally by Minister Park as before, conflict between the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office is inevitable during Prosecutor General Yoon’s remaining term.

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