Minister Choo Mi-ae Heads to Jeju for Human Rights Protection, Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol Goes to Daejeon for Prosecution Reform... Each May Deliver Their Own Message
[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae and Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, who clashed head-on during the National Assembly audit, have immediately embarked on their respective political moves. Minister Choo is visiting Jeju, while Prosecutor General Yoon is heading to Daejeon to conduct policy inspections of the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, respectively. Attention is focused on what political messages will emerge amid their ongoing sharp exchanges through consecutive inspection orders and exercise of investigative command rights.
According to the Ministry of Justice on the 29th, Minister Choo will attend the opening ceremony of the Jeju Smile Center in Jeju Island that morning. This marks her first local field visit in five months since the May 18 Democratic Movement commemoration ceremony.
However, the visit to Jeju itself is a meaningful event for Minister Choo. Jeju is known as the place where she has the strongest political base, aside from the constituency she represented as a member of the National Assembly. During her first term as a lawmaker in 1998, she served as vice-chair of the Special Committee for the Investigation of the Jeju 4·3 Incident and worked hard to uncover the truth. It was also Minister Choo who discovered the list of prisoners compiled by illegal military tribunals during the Jeju 4·3 Incident.
Notably, during the last regular session of the National Assembly in October 1999, she drew attention by mentioning only the Jeju 4·3 Incident throughout the government questioning session. Two months later, she proposed and passed the "Special Act on the Investigation of the Jeju 4·3 Incident and the Restoration of Honor for the Victims," and was selected as the first honorary citizen of Jeju Province.
The Smile Center is also an issue that Minister Choo is personally overseeing to protect victims' human rights. Since 2010, the Ministry of Justice has been establishing regional integrated support centers for crime victim trauma as a long-term policy to provide psychological treatment for victims of violent crimes and their families. More than ten centers have already been set up nationwide, and Minister Choo has ordered additional establishments to build a thorough support system.
Moreover, during her visit to Jeju in April, Minister Choo made a surprise visit to the Jeju District Prosecutors' Office. She sent Park Chan-ho, former head of the Anti-Corruption Department at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and a key aide to Prosecutor General Yoon, to serve as the chief prosecutor of Jeju. On that day, regarding the "alleged collusion between prosecutors and media" case, she delivered a message saying, "All citizens are equal before the law and have the right to be protected by the law," and "Any doubts will be addressed according to law and principles."
On the same day, Prosecutor General Yoon headed to Daejeon. Although it is publicly a policy field inspection similar to Minister Choo's, many interpret this political move, visible after eight months amid a shrinking position due to inspections and investigative command rights, as significant.
Above all, in Daejeon, prosecutors considered close aides of Prosecutor General Yoon are working. Chief Prosecutor Lee Doo-bong of the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office is a representative close aide of Yoon. When Yoon was the chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, Lee served as the first deputy chief, and after Yoon became Prosecutor General, Lee was promoted to head of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's Scientific Investigation Department. There is also Lee Bok-hyun, head prosecutor of the Criminal Division 3, who investigated the "National Intelligence Service online comment manipulation case" and the "State Affairs Manipulation case" alongside Yoon. Lee served as head of the Economic Crime Division at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office and investigated the Samsung Group's illegal succession allegations. Additionally, Yang Seok-jo, a prosecutor at the Daejeon High Prosecutors' Office who worked with Yoon on the special prosecution team for the "State Affairs Manipulation case," is also stationed there. Yang was transferred to the Daejeon High Prosecutors' Office following the "funeral home insubordination" incident while serving as a senior researcher in the Anti-Corruption and Violence Department at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office.
Since Prosecutor General Yoon is reuniting with his close aides after several months, it is highly likely he will deliver a message to frontline prosecutors. When he visited Busan and Gwangju in February, Yoon also expressed opposition to the Ministry of Justice's plan to separate prosecution and investigation authorities.
In the legal community, it is expected that Prosecutor General Yoon will focus on consolidating his base within the prosecution amid ongoing attacks from the ruling party. The Supreme Prosecutors' Office has officially announced that, considering the COVID-19 situation, it will significantly reduce the scale but will resume nationwide meetings targeting high prosecutors' offices and district prosecutors' offices, starting with the Daejeon High Prosecutors' Office and District Prosecutors' Office, excluding branch offices.
Furthermore, given that the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office is in charge of the investigation into the early shutdown of the Wolseong Unit 1 nuclear reactor, which could be a burden to the current administration, various interpretations are emerging regarding why Prosecutor General Yoon chose Daejeon as his first destination after resuming visits to local prosecution offices.
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