'Prosecutor Lee Bok-hyun, Investigating MB, Cho Kuk, Samsung, Targets Prosecutor General with Bombshell Declaration "I Will Not Attend Trial"'

On the 1st, at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office press room, Lee Bok-hyun, head prosecutor of the Economic Crime Division at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, announced the investigation results of the "Samsung Group Illegal Merger and Accounting Fraud Case." / Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Lee Bok-hyun, head prosecutor of the Criminal Division 2 at the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office, who investigated Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong on allegations including Samsung BioLogics accounting fraud and the merger of Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries for management succession, made a bombshell declaration that he "will not be involved in the trial."

This declaration is aimed at Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo. It is interpreted as opposing Kim, who stated that "it is an excessive human rights violation for the prosecutor who directly conducted the investigation to be involved in the prosecution maintenance."

On the 16th, Prosecutor Lee posted on the internal prosecution network 'E-Pros' that "due to lack of ability, I have many cases with remaining trials because I could not quickly conclude the cases I was involved in," and added, "If it is a human rights violation for the investigating prosecutor to be involved in the trial, I intend not to be involved in trials going forward."

Prosecutor Lee revealed that he is involved in cases such as the bribery case related to former President Lee Myung-bak, cases related to former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, and the Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong case, and pointed out, "While the Supreme Prosecutors' Office is promoting the system of one prosecutor per first trial division, I heard that the underlying reason is that 'it is an excessive human rights violation for the prosecutor who directly conducted the investigation to be involved in the prosecution maintenance,' and recently there has been a critical view on direct involvement in current affairs cases, resulting in situations where prosecutors involved in investigations cannot enter trials."

He continued, "I agree with prosecution reform, but I believe there is no disagreement on the point that we must do our best to ensure that those who have committed crimes are found guilty," and added, "However, judging from the recent atmosphere, it seems that the Supreme Prosecutors' Office policy is that human rights must be protected even if a verdict of not guilty is reached."

He also said, "I asked juniors at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office to maintain prosecution together, but we could not do so because the Prosecutor General thinks differently," and added, "I am really curious. Does the Prosecutor General think that it is a 'human rights violation' for the prosecutor who conducted the investigation on complex cases to be involved in the trial, or if not, why is the investigating prosecutor prevented from being involved in the trial? I have doubts about this."

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