'Legend of Teuksu'... Leaving the Prosecutor's Office After 5 Demotions

Juyeonghwan Busan High Prosecutors' Office Deputy Chief Who Has Upheld 'Justice, Equity, and Moderation'

On the 13th, a sudden announcement was made regarding the ‘Yoon Gageun Han Gawon’ (尹可近韓可遠 - close to President Yoon Seok-yeol but distant from former Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon) personnel reshuffle among the prosecution executives, which featured a notable point. It was the demotion of Joo Young-hwan, Deputy Chief Prosecutor of Busan High Prosecutors' Office, a representative ‘Yoon Geun Han Geun’ (尹近韓近 - close to both Yoon and Han) (photo). Joo had a special relationship with President Yoon, having served as the master of ceremonies at Yoon’s wedding in March 2012, and maintained a close connection with former Minister Han, including serving as the head of the ministerial confirmation hearing preparation team in 2022. Joo submitted his resignation on the 14th, immediately after the personnel announcement.

[Image source=Beomryul Newspaper]

Besides these connections, Joo was known as part of the ‘27th Special Investigation Troika’ along with former Minister Han and Prosecutor General Lee Won-seok, demonstrating outstanding ability and achievements in special investigations. Therefore, his demotion and resignation have stirred subtle and complex currents within the prosecution.

In 2011, as head of Team 2 of the Savings Bank Joint Investigation Unit, Joo investigated Lee Sang-deuk, elder brother of former President Lee Myung-bak. In 2015, he investigated former Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo as part of the Sung Wan-jong list special investigation team. When the Prosecutor General’s direct Corruption Crime Special Investigation Unit was launched in 2016, he and former Minister Han served as heads of Teams 1 and 2, respectively.

Although his investigative skills were excellent, his prosecutorial career was a continuous series of hardships and adversities, oscillating between demotions and reinstatements.

In 2013, during Prosecutor General Chae Dong-wook’s tenure, he was appointed to the key position of Chief of Crime Information at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, but when Chae resigned amid allegations of an extramarital child, Joo was first demoted to head of the Foreign Affairs Department at Incheon District Prosecutors’ Office. In 2014, he was assigned as head of the team responsible for arresting Yoo Byung-eun, chairman of the Sewol Group, but after Yoo was found dead, he was demoted a second time to Busan High Prosecutors' Office.

In 2017, Prosecutor General Moon Moo-il, who valued him, appointed him as spokesperson for the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, but in 2020, under Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae, he was demoted again to director of the Yongin branch of the Judicial Research and Training Institute.

In 2021, with the appointment of Minister Park Beom-gye, he was promoted to chief prosecutor as the last among his 27th class peers and served as director of the Planning and Coordination Office at the Ministry of Justice.

The following year, after the inauguration of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, he served as head of the confirmation hearing preparation team for Minister Han, his classmate, and in May 2022, following Han’s appointment, he was assigned as chief prosecutor of Daegu District Prosecutors’ Office. This appointment was also unexpectedly received. Within the prosecution, there was talk that his promotion to chief prosecutor at the end of the Moon Jae-in administration was viewed unfavorably by the ‘pro-Yoon prosecution’ faction.

As chief prosecutor of Daegu District Prosecutors’ Office, Joo led the investigation into the first-ever domestic Bitcoin remittance scam involving trillions of won through commercial banks, resulting in all defendants being found guilty, among many other investigative achievements.

However, his trials were not over. In June 2023, the Gyeongbuk Police Agency requested an arrest warrant from the prosecution for Ahn Hae-uk (74), former president of the Korea Elementary School Taekwondo Federation, who raised the so-called ‘Julie allegations’ that First Lady Kim Keon-hee worked at a nightclub. The Daegu District Prosecutors’ Office, after ordering supplementary investigations once, dismissed the warrant request at the prosecution stage, citing that the suspect was faithfully attending ongoing trials and there was little risk of evidence tampering.

Three months later, in the prosecution personnel reshuffle, Joo was transferred from chief prosecutor of Daegu District Prosecutors’ Office to deputy chief prosecutor of Busan High Prosecutors’ Office; Jo Dae-ho (30th class), first deputy chief, was assigned as prosecutor at Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office; and Cheon Ki-hong (32nd class), head of the Human Rights Protection Department, was assigned as prosecutor at Busan High Prosecutors’ Office. Cheon’s main duties included handling warrants requested by the police. Both the leadership and the responsible prosecutors were conspicuously demoted. Jo and Cheon immediately submitted their resignations.

On the 13th, in a sudden prosecution executive reshuffle, Joo was demoted for the fifth time to a research fellow at the Judicial Research and Training Institute. On the 14th, he expressed his intention to resign on the prosecution’s internal network, iProS, writing, “I wish to put a full stop to my prosecutorial journey. I believe the mission of the prosecution is to protect the people, society, and the nation from crime, and I have strived not to lose sight of justice and fairness in every moment.”

Joo’s resignation has been met with regret among his senior and junior prosecutors. A senior prosecutor who once served as chief prosecutor said, “Joo was not only excellent in investigative ability but also knew ‘restraint’ and upheld principles, qualities that are especially rare in today’s prosecution. That is why his turbulent prosecutorial career and resignation are all the more heartbreaking.”

Woo Bin, Lim Hyun-kyung, Legal Times reporters

※This article is based on content supplied by Law Times.