Seoul, Daegu, and Busan High Prosecutors General Resignations... Imminent Senior Prosecutor Personnel Changes

Han Seok-ri Ulsan Prosecutor General and Park Jong-geun Gwangju Prosecutor General Also Tender Resignations

As frontline high prosecutors and chief prosecutors have consecutively expressed their intention to resign, there are growing expectations that a high-level personnel reshuffle in the prosecution is imminent.

Supreme Prosecutors' Office, Seocho-gu, Seoul.

No Jeong-yeon, Daegu High Prosecutor General (57, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 25), posted a message titled "Resignation Announcement" on the prosecution's internal network, Epros, on the 13th, stating, "I now wish to leave the prosecution, which has been a part of my life."

As the first female high prosecutor general in the prosecution, she wrote, "Criticism and checks on the prosecution have always existed from the time I first became a member of the prosecution until now, and will continue in the future," adding, "Although the prosecution holds various significant powers, I believe the greatest power is the ‘decision-making authority.’"

Choi Kyung-gyu, Busan High Prosecutor General (61, class 25), also posted on Epros, saying, "There is an old saying, ‘If you are not honest, there is nothing you cannot receive; if you do not know shame, there is nothing you cannot do. Therefore, before teaching writing, one should first teach the sense of shame,’" and added, "I think it is time to seriously consider how important it is to live with a sense of shame these days."

Lee Joo-hyung, Seoul High Prosecutor General (57, class 25), is also reported to have expressed his intention to resign on the same day.

Han Seok-ri, Ulsan District Prosecutor General (55, class 28), and Park Jong-geun, Gwangju District Prosecutor General (56, class 28), also announced their resignations on the same day. Han wrote on Epros, "As I leave, the pain of detaching myself from the ‘prosecution,’ which has become one with me, seems less than the sense of loss from the prosecution not receiving full support from the public," adding, "I hope the day will come when the prosecution receives abundant trust and support from the people."

Park said, "Although my steps are heavy as I leave behind only a heavy burden without any achievements, I personally depart with a joyful heart."

Since Minister of Justice Park Seong-jae took office in February without announcing any chief prosecutor appointments, and with the recent establishment of the Presidential Office’s Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs, there are growing expectations that a prosecution personnel reshuffle is imminent.

Ahead of the prosecution personnel reshuffle, it is expected that more high-ranking officials at the chief prosecutor level and above will continue to express their intention to resign.