Prosecutor Personnel Changes, Are They Shaking Public Prosecution Maintenance?

Personnel Committee Today... Personnel Changes Expected Soon
Prosecutor Attends Round-Trip Trial for 10 Hours
Park Beom-gye Criticizes 'On-Site Trial'
Possibility of Demotion for Prosecutors Investigating the Regime

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Prosecutor Lee Bok-hyun, who indicted Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong on charges including illegal succession of management rights, uses two offices. One is at the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office, and the other is at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office.

He usually works in Daejeon but on the days when Vice Chairman Lee's trial is held, he receives approval for acting duties from the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and makes a "one-day business trip" to Seoul. He prepared an office at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office for use at that time.

When a prosecutor from a different jurisdiction attends a trial held at the Seoul Central District Court, they must obtain approval for a "same-day" appointment to act as a prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. Prosecutor Lee has been living this routine for nine months.

Prosecutor Kang Baek-shin in Tongyeong is in a similar situation. Kang was assigned to the Tongyeong branch of the Changwon District Prosecutors' Office in last September's personnel reshuffle and initially commuted 10 hours round-trip between Tongyeong and Seoul by express bus. This was to attend the trial of the family of former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, whom he investigated. Prosecutor Ko Hyung-gon, who also participates in this trial, endures the effort of traveling from Daegu to Seoul on each trial day. Prosecutor Lee Jung-seop of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, who indicted Seoul High Prosecutor General Lee Sung-yoon on charges of investigation interference, also obtains approval and travels to Seoul for each trial.

Thanks to their business trip trials, the prosecution of major cases has been well maintained. However, concerns have emerged inside and outside the prosecution that these efforts may soon end. This is because the status of these prosecutors appears uncertain in the upcoming mid-level personnel reshuffle.

The Ministry of Justice will hold a Prosecutor Personnel Committee meeting at 2 p.m. on the 23rd at the Gwacheon Government Complex to deliberate on the standards and principles before the mid-level personnel reshuffle. After the committee meeting, the Ministry of Justice is likely to set the appointment dates after the Cabinet meeting on the 29th, possibly as early as tomorrow or by early next week, and carry out the personnel changes.

Minister Park Beom-gye has announced the largest-scale personnel reshuffle in history. Inside the prosecution, voices express concern, saying, "While investigations are important, we worry that the personnel placements might also undermine the maintenance of prosecutions." There is fear that prosecutors who are striving to maintain prosecutions might be reassigned to locations so distant that participation in trials becomes impossible, or be transferred to different positions, increasing the risk of losing trials.

These concerns are heightened because Minister Park has criticized "business trip trials." When the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office investigation team indicted Seoul High Prosecutor General Lee Sung-yoon on charges of investigation interference not at Suwon but at the Seoul Central District Court, he called it a "forced Chunhyang to match jurisdiction."

Recently, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office has also turned uncooperative, increasing anxiety. According to the legal community, ahead of the second pretrial hearing on the Kim Hak-ui illegal departure ban case held on the 15th, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office refused a request to appoint seven prosecutors from the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office as acting prosecutors and limited it to three. A lawyer with a prosecution background said, "It cannot be ruled out that personnel measures might be taken considering making it difficult for prosecutors who investigated regime-related cases by transferring them to local offices and complicating trials."