'Yoon Faction' Park Chan-ho, Chief Prosecutor of Gwangju District Office, Retires

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] Park Chan-ho, head of the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office, classified as part of the 'Yoon Seok-yeol faction,' left the prosecution amid applause from employees.

The Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office held Park's retirement ceremony at the office building on the morning of the 21st.

Earlier this month, Park expressed his resignation through the prosecution's internal network 'Eprose,' saying, "I am very sorry to resign at a difficult time for the prosecution," and "I believe now, when honor has been restored, is the time to step down from the prosecutor position."

He continued, "Recently, political factionalism in our society has swallowed everything like a 'black hole,' causing the rule of law to collapse, and I have been deeply distressed to see the political neutrality and independence of the prosecution, as well as our purity, seriously distorted and damaged."

He also said, "It pains and saddens me that even the trust and harmony among colleagues within the prosecution are no longer what they used to be," and expressed a sincere hope that "recent unilateral changes to the criminal justice system, such as 'Geomsu Wanbak,' must be reconsidered for the sake of the country and its people."

Furthermore, he stated, "I hope my resignation will not be interpreted in other ways or become another topic of discussion," but added, "The grace I received as a prosecutor is so great that I want to return what I was allowed to keep."

Park, a graduate of the 26th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute, is one year senior to Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon and Deputy Chief Prosecutor Lee Won-seok. He served as the second deputy prosecutor when President Yoon was the head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, assisting him.

He was known as a 'special investigation expert' by actively participating in major investigation teams such as the 2007 Samsung slush fund case, the 2010 'sponsor prosecutor' case, and the 2013 Four Major Rivers collusion suspicion case.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice will convene the Prosecutors' Personnel Committee at 3 p.m. on the same day to discuss promotion and transfer criteria for prosecutors at the chief prosecutor level. Once the committee concludes, the appointments for chief prosecutors will be announced, followed by mid-level executive personnel changes.

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