Prosecutor Mid-Level Personnel Reshuffle to Be Implemented This Week... Who Will Handle the 'Daejang-dong and Blacklist Investigations'?

Prosecution's 'Special Line' at Central District Prosecutors' Office Expected to Be Fully Replaced... Eom Hee-jun, Kim Young-chul, Kang Baek-shin Mentioned
Investigation Line for 'Lee Jae-myung's Lawyer Fee Payment and Seongnam FC Sponsorship Fund Suspicion' Also in Focus

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] Mid-level executive personnel changes at the deputy chief and chief prosecutor levels will be carried out this week. Attention is focused on who will take charge of investigations into allegations of corruption during the Moon Jae-in administration, including the Daejang-dong development scandal and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy blacklist investigation.

According to the legal community on the 27th, the Ministry of Justice plans to implement mid-level executive personnel changes on the 28th, with new assignments expected to take effect in early July. A large-scale reshuffle of deputy chief and chief prosecutors is anticipated in this personnel change. The Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Prosecutors' Office held consultations last week regarding mid-level executive personnel changes following the recent appointments of senior executives at the chief prosecutor level and above.

First, the special investigation team at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office handling the Daejang-dong investigation is expected to be completely replaced. Jeong Yong-hwan, head of the Anti-Corruption and Strong Crime Division 1 (Judicial Research and Training Institute class 32), who oversaw the Daejang-dong investigation, and Yoo Jin-seung, head of the Economic Crime Criminal Division (class 33), the main prosecutor in the Daejang-dong case, are likely to be replaced. The Daejang-dong investigation team was formed as a 'mammoth-sized' team of 25 members with full support from former Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye, but the investigation results have been criticized as falling short of expectations.

Currently, the Daejang-dong investigation team is focusing almost exclusively on maintaining the prosecution, so there is a possibility that the entire investigation team will be reorganized except for the essential personnel participating in the trial, as the chief prosecutors are replaced. Following the 'one-point personnel change' last month, Song Kyung-ho was replaced as head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (class 29), and the 4th deputy chief leading the Daejang-dong investigation was changed to Ko Hyung-gon (class 31), reportedly prompting the Ministry of Justice to request new personnel supply.

Among the special investigation line at the Central District Prosecutors' Office, names mentioned include Um Hee-jun, head prosecutor of the Important Economic Crime Investigation Unit at the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office (class 32), who served as head of the investigation command division at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office during President Yoon Suk-yeol's tenure as Prosecutor General; Kim Young-chul, chief prosecutor of Trial Division 5 at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (class 33), who investigated the special prosecutor team for the state affairs manipulation scandal and Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong; and Kang Baek-shin, chief prosecutor of the Trial Division at the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office (class 34), who investigated the family of former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk. Prosecutors Um and Kang have been dispatched to the Central District Prosecutors' Office since last month, leading prosecution maintenance for the Samsung merger allegations and Cho's family, respectively, in Trial Division 5.

The investigation line at the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office, which is investigating the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy blacklist allegations, is also highly likely to be replaced. Recently, after the arrest warrant for former Minister of Industry and Energy Baek Woon-gyu was dismissed, there have been internal criticisms within the prosecution that Choi Hyung-won, head of the Criminal Division 6 (class 34), who is currently in charge of the investigation, took excessive measures.

There is also interest in who will take the positions of head of the Joint Financial and Securities Crime Investigation Unit, known as the "Grim Reaper of Yeouido," and the newly launched Joint Voice Phishing Crime Investigation Unit. The head of the Seongnam branch of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office (deputy chief level), who must lead investigations related to Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Jae-myung's 'lawyer fee payment allegations' and the Seongnam FC sponsorship fund allegations, is also expected to be assigned to someone with extensive special investigation experience.

The last-ranking chief of the criminal division in each district prosecutor's office without a special investigation division (anti-corruption division) is also a position to watch. Typically, the chief prosecutors of the final criminal divisions, who handled special investigations, have been considered aces in their respective classes.

Additional chief prosecutor appointments may be made to fill two vacancies left open in last week's chief prosecutor personnel changes and to replace senior executives who have submitted their resignations after the personnel changes, drawing further attention.

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