Today's Ministry of Justice Audit... Yoon Seok-yeol's 'Gobal Saju' Allegation vs Lee Jae-myung's 'Daejangdong' Allegation, Ruling and Opposition Clash

On the 1st, at the Supreme Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, during the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee's audit of the Supreme Court and others, Chairman Park Kwang-on announced the opening of the audit session.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] At the Ministry of Justice’s National Assembly audit on the 5th by the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee, the ruling and opposition parties are expected to clash over former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol’s 'alleged prosecution solicitation' and Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung’s 'Daejang-dong development project preferential treatment' allegations.

The Legislation and Judiciary Committee will conduct the audit from 10 a.m. at the National Assembly, targeting the Ministry of Justice, Korea Legal Aid Corporation, Korea Rehabilitation Welfare Corporation, and Government Legal Corporation.

During the audit, opposition lawmakers are expected to continue focusing their inquiries on the 'Daejang-dong' allegations, following last week’s Supreme Court audit.

In particular, since Yoo Dong-gyu, a former Planning Director of Seongnam Urban Development Corporation and known close aide to Governor Lee, was arrested on charges of breach of trust and bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes over the weekend, opposition lawmakers are expected to emphasize Governor Lee’s legal responsibility in this matter and call for investigations.

Ruling party lawmakers are likely to defend themselves by referring to People Power Party lawmaker Kwak Sang-do, who revealed his intention to resign after it was disclosed that his son received a retirement payment of 5 billion won from Hwacheon Daeyu, and People Power Party-affiliated figures such as lawyer Lee Kyung-jae, who represented Choi Seo-won (formerly Choi Soon-sil), framing the incident as a 'People Power Party gate.'

Meanwhile, ruling party lawmakers, who countered with the 'judge surveillance' card by Yoon Seok-yeol’s prosecution during the last Supreme Court audit, are expected to focus their scrutiny on the 'alleged prosecution solicitation' that occurred while former Prosecutor General Yoon was in office.

The investigation into the 'prosecution solicitation' allegation is currently being conducted by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), which has taken over the case reported to the prosecution. However, since Son Jun-sung, the former Policy Officer of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Investigation Information Department involved in the allegation, is still an active prosecutor and the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Inspection Department is conducting related inspections, opposition lawmakers are expected to continue their intense criticism.

Justice Minister Park Beom-gye recently stated that he is reviewing the possible abolition of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Investigation Information Department (formerly the Investigation Information Policy Department) and mentioned that a conclusion might be reached around the time of the audit.

The Ministry of Justice is reportedly instructing the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office to prepare materials for an audit of the Investigation Information Department, scheduled to take place around the end of this month after the audit concludes.

Additionally, opposition lawmakers are expected to attack the prosecution personnel appointments, which are evaluated as having placed many pro-government prosecutors in key positions.

In particular, since Lee Jung-soo, the head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office who will lead the Daejang-dong investigation, is a junior alumnus of Namgang High School like Justice Minister Park Beom-gye and has been appointed to another key position following his role as Director of the Ministry of Justice’s Prosecutor’s Office, opposition lawmakers are expected to express concerns about the political neutrality of the prosecution’s investigation and strongly call for the introduction of a special prosecutor.

Ruling party lawmakers are also expected to continue their criticism regarding the investigation into the 'prosecutor alcohol entertainment' allegations, where only one prosecutor was indicted while the others received disciplinary actions.

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