'Criticism of Yoon Faction' Lee Seong-yoon's 2nd Disciplinary Committee Concludes

Dismissal of Disqualification Request for Disciplinary Committee Member

Lee Seong-yoon, Research Fellow at the Judicial Research and Training Institute [Image source=Yonhap News]

The disciplinary committee review by the Ministry of Justice regarding Lee Seong-yoon (62, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 23), a research fellow at the Judicial Research and Training Institute who criticized the 'Yoon Seok-yeol faction' at former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk's book launch event, concluded on the 27th.

On the same day, the Ministry of Justice held a prosecutor disciplinary committee meeting at the Government Complex Gwacheon in the afternoon and conducted a second disciplinary review of Lee. The Ministry did not disclose the results of the review. Lee did not attend.

Earlier, Prosecutor General Lee Won-seok requested severe disciplinary action from the Ministry of Justice on the 4th of last month, alleging that Lee made statements damaging the fairness of prosecutorial work eight times at events including the book launch last year, and violated the prosecutor ethics code by having inappropriate exchanges with former Minister Cho.

The disciplinary committee is also reported to have reviewed allegations that Lee unlawfully provided Ministry of Justice and Supreme Prosecutors' Office materials obtained during the inspection of Prosecutor Han Dong-hoon (currently Emergency Response Committee Chairman of the People Power Party) related to the 'Channel A case' in October 2020 to the Ministry of Justice inspection committee that was investigating then Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol. It is also said to include allegations of covering up the investigation into former Deputy Minister of Justice Kim Hak-ui's illegal travel ban.

Regarding the disciplinary charges, Lee claimed, "Yoon's subordinates are manipulating the Ministry of Justice prosecutor disciplinary committee," and stated, "Any disciplinary action reached is fundamentally invalid." He also criticized, "I cannot understand why submitting materials upon request from the superior authority, the Ministry of Justice's inspection, is grounds for discipline," and added, "The process of delivering the notice of disciplinary reasons was omitted, and the procedure is being rushed."

Meanwhile, the disciplinary committee dismissed Lee's recusation request targeting the majority of disciplinary committee members on the same day. Lee had filed the recusation on the grounds that since the disciplinary reasons were that he criticized the 'Yoon Seok-yeol faction,' and related persons were disciplinary committee members, he could not trust the fairness. The recusation targets reportedly included Kwon Soon-jung (class 29), Director of the Ministry of Justice's Prosecutor's Office, and Park Se-hyun (class 29), Head of the Criminal Division at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office.

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