[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The controversy over the Ministry of Justice's personnel reshuffle of senior prosecutors, which has been criticized as a 'demotion' of Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol's aides, has escalated into a prosecution investigation.
According to the prosecution on the 22nd, the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office assigned the case in which Minister of Justice Chu Mi-ae and Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office Chief Lee Seong-yoon were accused of abuse of authority and obstruction of justice to the Public Investigation Division (Chief Prosecutor Lee Geon-ryeong) the day before.
The Liberty Korea Party (LKP) filed a complaint with the prosecution on the 9th against Minister Chu and then Ministry of Justice Prosecutor General Lee, stating that the personnel reshuffle of prosecutors at the chief prosecutor level conducted on the 8th was a unilateral move to demote a large number of prosecutors investigating serious crimes involving key figures of the current administration.
The LKP claimed that Minister Chu violated the Prosecutors' Office Act, which requires hearing the Prosecutor General's opinion regarding prosecutor personnel matters. They also alleged that in the process of attempting to appoint lawyer Ryu Hyuk, a former prosecutor, as the successor to former Director Lee, the Ministry of Justice ignored procedures and regulations, constituting obstruction of official duties by abuse of authority.
Besides the LKP, the 'Lawyers for Korean Peninsula Unification and Human Rights' also filed a complaint with the prosecution against Minister Chu and President Moon Jae-in for abuse of authority. The Supreme Prosecutors' Office, after receiving the complaint, considered comprehensively that the accused, Director Lee, was directing the investigation at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office and the location where the abuse of authority allegedly occurred, and thus transferred the case to the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office.
Meanwhile, Shim Jae-cheol, head of the Anti-Corruption and Violent Crimes Division at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and a party to the 'Funeral House Defiance Incident,' was also reported to the prosecution on charges of abuse of authority, dereliction of duty, and coercion. The civic group 'Active Free Citizens' filed the complaint with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office on the same day.
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