Vice Minister Lee Jinsoo: "I Did Call Noh Manseok, But It Was Not an Exercise of Investigative Command Authority"

Dispute Over Exercise of Investigative Command Authority
Inevitable Blame Game Between Ministry of Justice and Supreme Prosecutors’ Office

Lee Jinsoo, Acting Minister of Justice, is attending the 1st plenary session of the 426th National Assembly (extraordinary session) held at the National Assembly on July 1, 2025. Photo by Kim Hyunmin

Lee Jinsoo, Vice Minister of Justice, addressed the controversy over the decision not to appeal the Daejang-dong case, stating, "It is true that I called Noh Manseok, Acting Prosecutor General," but clarified, "I made it clear that this was not a matter of prior coordination or consultation, nor was it an exercise of investigative command authority."

At a closed-door session of the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee's budget subcommittee on November 12, in response to a related question from Assemblyman Joo Jinwoo of the People Power Party, Vice Minister Lee said, "If the Minister of Justice were to exercise investigative command authority over a specific case, it would have to be done through an official document following formal procedures. It must not be done without such procedures, and we are not able to do so."

When asked by Assemblyman Joo how many times he had spoken with Acting Prosecutor General Noh regarding the decision not to appeal, Vice Minister Lee replied, "I made one phone call regarding the Minister's opinion to exercise caution about filing an appeal, and I received a response from Acting Prosecutor General Noh regarding the outcome."

To repeated questions about whether there had been multiple calls, he added, "The Minister received three reports on this matter from working-level officials at the Ministry of Justice, and based on those, conveyed his opinion. However, as I mentioned, that opinion was communicated to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office only once."