[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Members of the Ministry of Justice's Digital Sex Crime Expert Committee (Expert Committee) massively resigned on the 18th in protest against the personnel reassignment returning Deputy Chief Prosecutor Seo Ji-hyun (49, Judicial Research and Training Institute Class 33) of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office Seongnam Branch to her original post.
The 17 members of the Expert Committee issued a press release on the same day stating, "We cannot help but feel regret over the Ministry of Justice's behavior and also strongly feel a sense of disillusionment," expressing their intention to resign.
The members argued, "With about three months left in the Expert Committee's term, the Ministry of Justice issued a unilateral return order without any discussion," and "The sudden personnel action against Prosecutor Seo, who is the committee secretary and head of the Digital Sex Crime Response Task Force (TF), can only be criticized as a 'purge' right before the inauguration of the new Minister of Justice."
They continued, "The reason the Ministry of Justice formed the Expert Committee was to fill the gaps in victim and gender perspectives that public officials might lack, and Prosecutor Seo was one of the very few prosecutors who held such perspectives and led and supported the Expert Committee's activities," emphasizing this point.
They added, "We cannot help but feel regret over the Ministry of Justice's behavior, which lightly disregards these efforts and activities and seems to be driving out Prosecutor Seo without clear explanation," and "Out of the total 22 advisory members, 17 are resigning from their positions to inform the public of this unfairness."
The Ministry of Justice instructed some dispatched prosecutors to return to their affiliated offices as of the 17th. Prosecutor Seo was also included among those to be returned. In response, Prosecutor Seo announced on her social media on the 16th that she had been notified of her return and stated, "The meaning is clear as they gave no time to pack and issued a humiliating return notice, so I submitted my resignation."
Prosecutor Seo, who sparked the #MeToo movement within the prosecution by exposing sexual harassment, was appointed as a special advisor on gender equality policy in the personnel reshuffle conducted by former Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae in January 2020. Since then, she worked in dispatched status as the head of the External Cooperation Team of the Digital Sex Crime Special Response TF and as the head of the Digital Sex Crime Response TF.
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