Yoon Seok-yeol Also Resigns Midterm... The Ordeal of Prosecutors General in Conflict with the Regime

Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol expressed his intention to resign from the position of Prosecutor General on the 4th at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol, who vowed to "stake his position" over the establishment of the Serious Crimes Investigation Office (Jungsucheong), resigned on the 4th as he had promised. Although this is not the first conflict between Yoon and the administration, legal and political circles both inside and outside consider the establishment of Jungsucheong a decisive factor in determining his fate.

Having constantly clashed with the government and ruling party since the investigation of former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, Yoon defended his position even when then-Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae requested disciplinary action and issued a suspension order last year, successfully obtaining a court injunction. However, with the adjustment of investigative authority between the prosecution and police and the establishment of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (Gongsucheo) completed, Yoon came to believe that the ruling party's plan to abolish the prosecution office entirely and create a new investigative agency was because he was still Prosecutor General. This led him to seriously consider resigning before his term ended.

Yoon's resignation has sparked talk that the saga of Prosecutor Generals clashing with the administration has repeated itself. During the Kim Young-sam administration in 1993, Prosecutor General Park Jong-cheol resigned after six months amid conflicts over a slot machine case involving influential figures from the TK (Daegu-Gyeongbuk) ruling faction.

In 2003, during the Roh Moo-hyun administration, after former President Roh directly presided over a nationally broadcasted "Conversation with Prosecutors" and bluntly stated, "I do not trust the current prosecution leadership," Prosecutor General Kim Gak-young submitted his resignation. In 2005, Prosecutor General Kim Jong-bin resigned over the case involving Dongguk University professor Kang Jeong-gu's alleged violation of the National Security Law. At that time, Minister of Justice Cheon Jeong-bae ordered a 'non-custodial investigation' of Professor Kang and exercised investigative control, and Kim submitted a protest resignation fearing 'interference in the investigation' during the acceptance of this order.

During the Park Geun-hye administration in 2012, Prosecutor General Chae Dong-wook resigned amid conflicts with the administration over the National Intelligence Service's election interference investigation, following reports related to his personal affairs and an inspection order from Minister of Justice Hwang Kyo-ahn.

After Prosecutor General Chae, Kim Jin-tae, Kim Soo-nam, and Moon Moo-il completed their full two-year terms, while Yoon Seok-yeol resigned four months before his term ended. Since the introduction of the two-year term system for Prosecutor Generals in 1988, only eight Prosecutor Generals have completed their full two-year terms.