PCA, 'Han Myeongsuk Perjury Coaching Obstruction of Investigation' Yoon Seok-yeol and Cho Nam-gwan Not Indicted... Lim Eun-jeong "Reviewing Reconsideration Application" (Comprehensive)

Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate (left), and Cho Nam-gwan, head of the Judicial Research and Training Institute. / Photo by Yoon Dong-ju and Kang Jin-hyung.

[Asia Economy Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist Reporter] The High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Unit (PCC) on the 9th decided not to prosecute Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate, and Cho Nam-gwan, head of the Legal Research and Training Institute, who were accused by a civic group of obstructing the investigation into the alleged 'coaching of false testimony' of witnesses in the trial of former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook. This decision came 250 days after the investigation began on June 4 last year.

During the investigation of the related complaint case, Lim Eun-jeong, the Ministry of Justice's Inspection Officer (former Senior Researcher of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Inspection Policy), who claimed that the investigation and inspection rights were obstructed because Yoon designated the head of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Inspection Division 3 as the lead prosecutor, stated that she would consider filing a request for reconsideration against the PCC's non-prosecution decision.

On the same day, the PCC announced that regarding the case of alleged obstruction of investigation into the 'coaching of false testimony' involving former Prime Minister Han, it decided not to prosecute Yoon and Cho, who were accused by a civic group of abuse of authority and other charges, citing insufficient evidence.

Additionally, the PCC stated, "In January, pursuant to Article 19, Paragraph 2 of the PCC Act, Director Kim Jin-wook, while concurrently serving as the Chief of the Prosecution Division, assigned Kim Seong-moon, Head of Investigation Division 2, to handle the duties of the Chief of the Prosecution Division specifically for this case instead of Choi Seok-gyu, Head of Investigation Division 3, who had been leading the investigation. Through this procedure, a final conclusion on the disposition was recently reached."

The case concerning the alleged coaching of false testimony of witnesses in former Prime Minister Han's trial involves claims that in 2011, the prosecution investigation team instructed inmates who appeared as witnesses in the trial to give false testimony that former Prime Minister Han had received money. Although a re-investigation was conducted following related revelations in April 2020, a final non-prosecution decision was made for the inmates after an expanded meeting of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office chiefs in March last year.

According to the PCC, Yoon is accused of abusing his authority as Prosecutor General by instructing the Human Rights Supervisor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office to conduct a fact-finding investigation on May 29, 2020, despite Han Dong-soo, Head of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Inspection Department, deciding to carry out the investigation within the Inspection Department regarding complaints that the political funds violation case against former Prime Minister Han was fabricated, thereby obstructing Han Dong-soo's exercise of inspection rights.

Furthermore, Yoon and Cho are accused of abusing their authority by rejecting the approval of Lim, the officer in charge of the fact-finding investigation of the complaint regarding coaching of false testimony of witnesses in former Prime Minister Han's trial, when Lim submitted approval to recognize A and B, who testified as witnesses in Han's trial, as suspects of coaching false testimony. They designated the head of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Inspection Division 3 as the lead prosecutor, obstructing Lim's exercise of investigation and inspection rights, and neglecting their duties by allowing the statute of limitations on the coaching false testimony charges against A and B to expire.

Regarding the allegation that Prosecutor General Yoon abused his authority to obstruct Han Dong-soo's exercise of rights, the PCC judged it difficult to recognize the charges after comprehensively considering factors such as: the complainant's submitted documents did not specifically indicate illegal acts by the investigation team; the Minister of Justice instructed the Supreme Prosecutors' Office to receive progress reports from the Human Rights Supervisor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office after direct investigation of key witnesses by the Inspection Department; the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office investigated multiple related persons in a short period and transferred records to the head of Inspection Division 3 through the Human Rights Department; and the authority of designating the responsible department when complaints involve both the Inspection and Human Rights Departments lies with the Prosecutor General.

Regarding the charges that Yoon and Cho obstructed Lim's exercise of rights and neglected their duties, the PCC concluded no charges after considering that: the head of Inspection Division 3, the chief officer, and the researchers of Inspection Division 3 were responsible for the work while Lim joined as a team member; according to the regulations on the organization of the Prosecutors' Office, investigations into misconduct by prosecutors of high rank or above are under the jurisdiction of the head of Inspection Division 3; and meetings of deputy heads and senior prosecutors nationwide, convened by the Minister of Justice, concluded that it was difficult to recognize the coaching false testimony charges against A and B.

The PCC received the complaint from the civic group Judicial Justice Citizens' Action in March last year and began direct investigation by registering Yoon and former Deputy Cho as suspects three months later in June. In July last year, the PCC conducted searches and seizures at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and the Ministry of Justice to secure inspection materials related to Yoon.

Additionally, on September 8 and 28 last year, the PCC investigated Lim and Han Dong-soo as witnesses to understand the investigation process at the time, and in October last year, summoned Cho as a suspect for questioning. However, the PCC requested a written investigation for Yoon instead of summoning him, receiving a written statement.

Meanwhile, in July last year, Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye announced the results of a joint inspection by the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Prosecutors' Office on the investigation team of former Prime Minister Han, after the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Inspection Committee decided not to discipline or prosecute two prosecutors involved in coaching false testimony charges.

At that time, the Ministry of Justice pointed out that during Lim's investigation of the complaint regarding coaching false testimony related to former Prime Minister Han, Yoon's designation of the head of Inspection Division 3 as the lead prosecutor was an arbitrary case assignment, and proposed improvements such as establishing principles for case assignment and investigation team composition.

However, the day before the Ministry of Justice's announcement, Cho posted on the internal prosecutors' network, rebutting that "the lead prosecutor was originally the head of Inspection Division 3, and the case was never assigned or reassigned to Lim." Cho's position was that Han Dong-soo did not have the authority to change the lead prosecutor without the Prosecutor General's approval.

With the conclusion of the investigation into the alleged obstruction of the coaching false testimony investigation related to former Prime Minister Han, the PCC currently has three ongoing investigations involving Yoon as a suspect: the 'Complaint Fabrication' case, the 'Judiciary Analysis Document' case, and the 'Optimus Fund Fraud Case' involving allegations of inadequate investigation.

On the same day, Lim stated on her Facebook just before the PCC announced the investigation results that she is considering filing a request for reconsideration against the PCC's non-prosecution decision.

She said, "I have already made a public interest report, recently submitted a complaint with the request for reconsideration in mind, and have shared related materials with my lawyers. I plan to disclose the information within a legal framework at a time when there is no need to be misunderstood as having political intentions."

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