Prosecutors Review Reissuance of Warrant for Former Minister Baek
Summons Expected for Officials Following Deputy and Chief Prosecutor Personnel Changes
Investigation of Blue House Higher-Ups Inevitable
Im Gwan-hyeok, head of the Sewol Ferry Disaster Special Investigation Unit, is announcing the final investigation results of the Sewol Ferry Disaster Special Investigation Unit on the 19th at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul. / Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@
[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] The inauguration ceremony for Im Gwan-hyeok, the chief prosecutor of the Eastern District Prosecutors' Office who will be in charge of investigating the Ministry of Industry blacklist allegations, will be held on the 27th. Following this, it is expected that the investigation into corruption from the previous administration will accelerate with the appointment of deputy and senior prosecutors.
According to the legal community, Im's inauguration ceremony will take place at 3 p.m. at the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office. Prosecutor Im is considered one of the leading special prosecutors, having served as head of the Special 1 and 2 Divisions at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office and as the head of the Sewol Ferry Special Investigation Unit. It is known that Im was sidelined during the Moon Jae-in administration but was promoted belatedly.
With the sudden replacement of the investigation leadership, it is anticipated that a full-scale drive will be launched into the backlog of corruption investigations at the Eastern District Prosecutors' Office. First, it is expected that the arrest warrant for former Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Baek Woon-kyu will be re-requested. A prosecution official told Asia Economy in a phone interview, "We are reviewing which charges may be disputable," and added, "We are actively considering re-requesting the warrant." The prosecution believes that a significant portion of the charges have been acknowledged, considering that the reasons for the warrant dismissal mentioned that some charges could be disputable.
The prosecution previously specified in Baek's arrest warrant that he pressured heads of 13 affiliated organizations to resign and improperly supported a specific individual to become a successor at one of the organizations. Recently, it is known that personnel officers who observed the hiring of successors during the replacement period of affiliated organization heads were consecutively summoned for questioning.
After re-requesting Baek's arrest warrant, the prosecution is expected to continue investigations into higher-ups at the Blue House. A current lawmaker A, who worked at the Blue House during the Moon administration, denied the investigation, stating, "This matter is unrelated to the Presidential Secretariat." However, Park Sang-hyeok, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, previously requested to appear as a witness.
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