Prosecution Dismisses Case Against Judge Yu Chang-hoon for Rejecting Arrest Warrant of Representative Lee Jae-myung

The prosecution dismissed the case against the judge who rejected the arrest warrant requested by the prosecution for Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea.

The reason was that the case did not meet the elements of a crime and it was clear that there was no suspicion.

Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, Seocho-dong, Seoul.
Photo by Choi Seok-jin

The Criminal Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office dismissed the case on the 12th, in which a conservative-leaning group filed a complaint against Yoo Chang-hoon, the chief judge in charge of warrants at the Seoul Central District Court, on charges including abuse of authority related to the arrest warrant duties.

A prosecution official stated, "Based on the contents of the complaint alone, it does not meet the elements of a crime and it is clear that there is no suspicion, so the case was dismissed."

Earlier this month, a group called the Liberty Korea Patriotic Corps submitted a complaint against Judge Yoo to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office.

At the time, the Patriotic Corps stated the purpose of the complaint, saying, "There was an error in ignoring the necessity of arrest investigation to discover the substance of the criminal facts during the investigation stage and emphasizing only the suspect's right to defense as if it were the trial stage," and "Judge Yoo's decision to reject the warrant is judged to constitute abuse of authority."

On the 27th of last month, Judge Yoo rejected the arrest warrant requested by the prosecution against Lee Jae-myung on charges including violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (bribery) related to allegations such as 'special favors in Baekhyeon-dong development,' 'North Korea remittance by Ssangbangwool Group,' and perjury coaching in the Public Official Election Act trial.

Judge Yoo acknowledged that the perjury coaching charge seemed to be substantiated and that there was considerable suspicion that Lee was involved in excluding Seongnam Urban Development Corporation from participating in the Baekhyeon-dong development project, but cited reasons such as 'lack of direct evidence' and 'no concern of evidence destruction,' concluding, "It is difficult to see that there are grounds and necessity for detention to the extent of excluding the principle of non-detention for the suspect."

Meanwhile, after the arrest warrant for Lee was rejected, the prosecution, which has been closely reviewing the court's reasons for rejection, indicted Lee without detention on charges of breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes related to the Baekhyeon-dong development special favor allegations.