Choo Mi-ae Orders Inspection Over Allegations of Prosecutor Misconduct Cover-up

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] On the 22nd, Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae ordered an inspection regarding whether there was concealment in the Lime investigation report and allegations of discriminatory investigations related to opposition party politicians.

The Ministry of Justice stated that Minister Choo instructed to promptly verify the facts and conduct an inspection on the controversial issues during the National Assembly audit of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office on the same day.

The Ministry of Justice said, "Regarding reports of misconduct by prosecutors and prosecution investigators, the Prosecutor General and the leadership of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office claim that they were not informed of these facts until recent media reports and were completely unaware of them." It added, "However, since the whistleblower's allegations of misconduct align with specific circumstances, we will inspect whether serious misconduct occurred and whether it was concealed or covered up by the investigating prosecutors or reporting channels."

It continued, "Regarding the investigation of opposition party politicians who are former prosecutors, we will also inspect the legality and appropriateness of the previous investigation team's reporting timeline and methods, which differed from those used in investigations of ruling party politicians. Additionally, after receiving reports of misconduct by opposition party politicians in early May this year, we will examine whether the investigation was conducted in a discriminatory manner compared to the ruling party politicians over approximately four months until the prosecutor personnel changes in August."