[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] Prosecutors from the 'Yoon Seok-yeol faction' have recently been facing setbacks in court one after another. Criticisms such as 'political revenge investigations' and 'excessive prosecutions' are resurfacing. This is the background that makes the soon-to-resume trial of the 'Blue House Ulsan Mayor Election Interference Allegation' case important. However, it is said that the situation is not favorable as the prosecutors responsible for maintaining the prosecution are not in a position to focus solely on the trial.
The Criminal Division 21 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Kim Miri) will hold the third preparatory hearing on the morning of the 24th for 13 people, including Song Cheol-ho, the Mayor of Ulsan, who were indicted on allegations of election interference by the Blue House. Since the case was filed in January this year, it has been designated as an important case requiring timely handling by the court. However, since the first trial procedure began in April, the case has repeatedly stalled due to issues with co-defendant investigations, preventing access to and copying of investigation records. It is known that the prosecution has deferred the decision on whether to indict former Presidential Chief of Staff Im Jong-seok and Presidential Secretary for Civil Affairs Lee Kwang-cheol, who are implicated as co-defendants in the investigation. Accordingly, the preparatory procedures for this trial are expected to conclude on this day.
Kim Tae-eun, Chief of the Criminal Division 1 at Daegu District Prosecutors' Office, will attend the trial to maintain the prosecution. Last year, Kim served as the head of the Public Investigation Division 2 at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office and investigated this case. At that time, the investigation command line consisted of Park Chan-ho, Head of the Public Investigation Department at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office (currently Chief Prosecutor of Jeju District Prosecutors' Office) - Shin Bong-soo, Deputy Chief Prosecutor of Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (currently Chief Prosecutor of Pyeongtaek Branch) - and Kim Tae-eun. All are prosecutors known as the 'Yoon Seok-yeol faction.'
The 'Yoon Seok-yeol faction' refers to the special investigation prosecutors whom Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol, who was the investigation team leader during the past National Government Corruption investigation, brought in. After Yoon was appointed as the head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, prosecutors who played key roles in investigations such as the National Intelligence Service's political manipulation allegations and the Lee Myung-bak DAS allegations were also included. They handed over dozens of suspects to trial in every case they handled. Most of the defendants brought to trial were convicted by the courts. They earned positions in key posts at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office as a reward for their work on rooting out deep-rooted evils.
However, the situation changed drastically this year. After Yoon's inauguration last year, large-scale investigations targeting the current administration led to their transfer to provincial offices through personnel reshuffles. Their recent trial records have also been poor. All six judges indicted for abuse of judicial administrative power were acquitted in the first trial, and Jo Beom-dong and his brother Jo Kwon, relatives of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, were acquitted of key charges related to the Cho family allegations.
In the legal community, it is said that the shake-up of Prosecutor General Yoon intensified after the appointment of Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae, affecting trials as well. In fact, prosecutors overseeing major case trials are known to be struggling to maintain prosecutions while commuting between provincial offices and Seoul. In the Blue House election interference allegation case, Chief Prosecutor Kim attends the trial by traveling from Daegu to Seoul on a business trip basis. Kim Seong-hoon, the current Deputy Chief Prosecutor of Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office, who was in charge of trial procedures, is currently on secondment at the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, further increasing the gap in prosecution maintenance.
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