On the morning of April 26, Lee Jeong-su, Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, is speaking at a briefing session on the mediation plan for the complete removal of prosecutorial investigation rights (Geomsu Wanbak) held at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]
[Asia Economy Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist Reporter] Lee Jung-soo, Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (age 53, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 26), has tendered his resignation to the Ministry of Justice.
As President Yoon Seok-yeol is expected to soon appoint Han Dong-hoon as Minister of Justice, the resignations of senior prosecutors continue, and the scope of personnel changes to be implemented after Han's inauguration as minister is expected to expand significantly.
According to the legal community on the 16th, Chief Prosecutor Lee recently submitted his resignation to the Ministry of Justice. It is known that he plans to leave a farewell message on the prosecutors' internal network, Epros, on the 17th.
Chief Prosecutor Lee passed the 36th Judicial Examination in 1994, completed the Judicial Research and Training Institute, served as a military legal officer, and was commissioned as a prosecutor at the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office in 2000.
Thereafter, he served as a Research Officer at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, Chief of the Uiseong Branch of Daegu District Prosecutors' Office, Head of the Victim Rights Division and Information and Communications Division at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, and Chief of the Advanced Crime Investigation Division 2 at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office.
While serving as Chief of the Advanced Crime Investigation Division 2, he led the joint investigation team on personal information crimes, investigating cases where large marts such as Homeplus sold customer information on a large scale.
Afterwards, he served as Chief of the Advanced Crime Investigation Division 1 at the Central District Prosecutors' Office and Director of the Criminal Justice Common System Operation Team at the Ministry of Justice, then was dispatched to the National Intelligence Service in the early Moon Jae-in administration, working as a legal advisor and member of the Anti-Corruption Task Force.
He then served as Director of Investigation Information Policy at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and Chief Prosecutor of the Bucheon Branch of Incheon District Prosecutors' Office. In 2020, during Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae's tenure, he was promoted to Prosecutor General and served as Director of the Planning and Coordination Department at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office.
He also served as Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office and was promoted to Director of the Prosecutor's Office at the Ministry of Justice, known as one of the 'Big 4' positions within the prosecution, shortly after former Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye, an alumnus of Seoul Namgang High School, took office. Four months later, in June of last year, he was appointed Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, another of the 'Big 4' key positions within the prosecution.
While serving as Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, he investigated cases related to President Yoon Seok-yeol's family corruption, including suspicions of stock manipulation involving Deutsche Motors, as well as the Daejang-dong development and lobbying preferential treatment allegations.
He was also criticized for delaying the handling of the case involving Han Dong-hoon's connection to the 'Channel A incident' for a long time, but in early last month, after about two years, he issued a non-prosecution disposition.
Recently, during the National Assembly's process of passing the 'Complete Removal of Prosecutorial Investigation Rights' (검수완박) bill, he voluntarily held a press conference expressing strong opposition, saying he was "grasping at straws."
Previously, among the high prosecutors who had all tendered their resignations opposing the Democratic Party's push for the 'Complete Removal of Prosecutorial Investigation Rights' legislation, Deputy Chief Prosecutor Park Seong-jin of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, Chief Prosecutor Kwon Soon-beom of Daegu High Prosecutors' Office, and Chief Prosecutor Jo Jae-yeon of Busan High Prosecutors' Office submitted their resignations again or left farewell messages on the prosecutors' internal network. On this day, Gu Bon-seon, a research fellow at the Judicial Research and Training Institute who had served as Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and Chief Prosecutor of Gwangju High Prosecutors' Office, also expressed his intention to resign.
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