Park Cheolwoo, Involved in Dropping Daejang-dong Appeal, Appointed as Head of Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office

Park Cheolwoo, the newly appointed Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. Photo by Yonhap News

Park Cheolwoo, Director of the Anti-Corruption Department at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor), has been appointed as the head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, the largest prosecution office in the country. Park is known to have been involved in the decision to withdraw the appeal in the Daejang-dong development corruption case, which is expected to spark controversy.

On November 19, the Ministry of Justice announced, "This personnel appointment was made to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of the head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, aiming to stabilize the prosecution organization, while also considering a renewal of senior prosecutors at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office."

Joo Mincheol, head of the Second Criminal Division at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, has been appointed as the new Director of the Anti-Corruption Department at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, which oversees special investigations. Jeong Yonghwan, head of the Inspection Division at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office, has been named Deputy Chief Prosecutor (Chief Prosecutor) to serve as acting head of the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office, which had been vacant. Lee Junghyun, research fellow at the Legal Research and Training Institute, has been promoted and appointed as Chief Prosecutor of the Suwon High Prosecutors' Office, and Ko Kyungsun, research fellow at the Legal Research and Training Institute, has been promoted and appointed as Chief Prosecutor of the Gwangju High Prosecutors' Office.

Those who had been sidelined to less significant positions during the Yoon Suk-yeol administration have now all returned to key posts within the prosecution through this reshuffle. In particular, with Joo, who led the Daejang-dong investigation during the Moon Jae-in administration, now taking the position of Director of the Anti-Corruption Department at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, significant changes are expected in the upcoming trials related to the Daejang-dong case.