[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Former senior officials of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office have been summoned as witnesses in the appellate trial of the 'disciplinary appeal administrative lawsuit' regarding the two-month suspension disciplinary action that President Yoon Seok-yeol received from the Ministry of Justice when he was Prosecutor General.
On the afternoon of the 15th, the Administrative Division 1-1 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judges Shim Jun-bo, Kim Jong-ho, Lee Seung-han) held the third preparatory hearing for the appeal trial of President Yoon's request to cancel the disciplinary action.
After the trial, Son Kyung-sik, President Yoon's legal representative, stated, "We applied for Ulsan District Prosecutor No Jeong-hwan and former Deputy Prosecutor General Koo Bon-seon to be witnesses in the trial, and both were accepted." They attended the Supreme Prosecutors' Office chiefs' meeting where President Yoon, during his tenure as Prosecutor General, delegated investigative authority over the so-called 'Channel A case.'
Previously, former Minister of Justice Chu Mi-ae excluded then-Prosecutor General Yoon from his duties in November 2020 and held a disciplinary committee in December of the same year, issuing a two-month suspension disciplinary action.
The disciplinary reasons cited by the Ministry of Justice at the time were ▲the creation and distribution of documents alleging surveillance of major case trial panels ▲obstruction of inspection and investigation related to the 'Channel A case' ▲damage to the dignity and reputation of prosecutors due to political neutrality violations.
The first trial recognized all disciplinary reasons except for the political neutrality violation and dismissed President Yoon's claim, stating that "the Ministry of Justice's disciplinary procedure was lawful."
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