With the Prosecutor Personnel Changes Approaching, Business Circles' Attention Focuses Entirely on 'Lee Jeong-seop Deputy Chief Prosecutor'

Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office Joint Investigation Team's 'Corporate Grim Reaper'
Will the 4th Chief Prosecutor Overseeing Business and Anti-Corruption at the Central Prosecutors' Office Be Appointed? "Worries"

Lee Jeong-seop, Chief Prosecutor of the Fair Trade Investigation Division at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

With the mid-level prosecutor personnel reshuffle expected to take place as early as next month, the business community's attention is fully focused on Lee Jeong-seop, Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (age 52, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 32).

On the 9th, most business insiders who spoke with this publication asked, "Do you know where Chief Prosecutor Lee will be transferred this time?" Since July last year, Chief Prosecutor Lee has been leading the Fair Trade Investigation Division (Gongjobu) at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. According to the business community, most major domestic conglomerates have been competing to secure law firms or lawyers familiar with Chief Prosecutor Lee in preparation for prosecution and court trials since he took charge of Gongjobu. Recently, they have been calculating various scenarios in anticipation of his promotion or transfer in the upcoming personnel reshuffle.

The reason the business community is closely watching Chief Prosecutor Lee's whereabouts is that Gongjobu is conducting comprehensive investigations into large corporations. Lee's investigative style is known for probing thoroughly according to principles without regard for higher-ups' opinions. To quote business insiders, companies are "exhausted and worn out from enduring his investigations."

Since Chief Prosecutor Lee's appointment, Gongjobu has conducted large-scale investigations into conglomerates and brought cases to trial. These include Samsung Electronics (Samsung Welstory's preferential treatment of affiliated companies), Naver (abuse of market dominance related to real estate business), Hankook Tire (unfair support of affiliates, embezzlement, breach of trust), SPC (unfair support of affiliates, breach of trust), and KT (preferential treatment of affiliated companies). They have also aggressively pursued cases involving steel companies' rebar price-fixing, insurance contract bid-rigging, and price-fixing of ice cream and chicken. On the 2nd, they summoned Jang Ji-ho, CEO of KT Telecop, for investigation regarding allegations of preferential treatment linked to former KT CEO Koo Hyun-mo. The day before, they summoned Hwang Mo, a former Samsung Life Insurance employee and current asset management company CEO, for investigation related to real estate transaction corruption allegations involving the resort condominium operator Ananti and Samsung Life Insurance.

Opinions on the personnel reshuffle vary inside and outside the prosecution. There are rumors that Chief Prosecutor Lee is a candidate for promotion to Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. Given his visible investigative achievements and the fact that he was granted full authority over the investigation team composition when he took charge of Gongjobu, he is believed to have strong trust from the prosecution leadership, leading many to predict his promotion. On the other hand, considering the impact on ongoing major investigations, some analysts believe that if the mid-level prosecutor reshuffle is carried out with minimal changes, Chief Prosecutor Lee may remain in his current position.

The business community hopes to breathe a sigh of relief if Lee, known as the "corporate grim reaper," leaves Gongjobu. However, there are concerns that if he is promoted to the 4th Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, overseeing both the Anti-Corruption Division and Gongjobu, the situation could become even more challenging.

The business community is also paying attention to Dan Seong-han, Chief of the Southern District Prosecutors' Office's Joint Financial and Securities Crime Investigation Team, who is a classmate of Chief Prosecutor Lee at the Judicial Research and Training Institute. Dan has led investigations into the cryptocurrency Terra-Luna crash and recently started leading the investigation into the Soci?t? G?n?rale (SG) Securities-related stock price crash. He is also considered a strong candidate for the 4th Deputy Chief Prosecutor position at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in the next reshuffle. If Chief Investigator Dan moves to this position, the business community anticipates that companies involved in illegal activities may face even tougher investigations than under Chief Prosecutor Lee.

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