Prosecutor Mid-Level Personnel Changes... Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office 1st Chief Park Seung-hwan & 4th Chief Jo Sang-won

Chief Prosecutor in Charge of Investigation into Kim Geon-hee's Luxury Bag Receipt and Doich Motors Allegations Retained

On the 29th, a personnel reshuffle of mid-level prosecutors at the deputy chief and chief prosecutor levels was carried out. Park Seung-hwan, Director of the Policy Planning Division at the Ministry of Justice (32nd Judicial Research and Training Institute class), was appointed as the First Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, who is in charge of investigating allegations related to First Lady Kim Geon-hee. Jo Sang-won, Second Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Daegu District Prosecutors' Office (32nd class), was appointed as the Fourth Deputy Chief Prosecutor.

Seoul Seocho-gu Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. / Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

The Ministry of Justice announced that on this day, a transfer of 514 prosecutors at the senior prosecutor level was conducted effective from the 3rd of next month. The Ministry explained that department heads handling major ongoing cases were retained, and deputy chiefs were excluded from transfers unless there were special circumstances to ensure continuity of work.

First, Park, a representative planner within the prosecution, was appointed as the First Deputy Chief Prosecutor to lead investigations into allegations such as the receipt of luxury bags by First Lady Kim Geon-hee, the Taj Mahal sightseeing allegations involving Kim Jung-sook, wife of former President Moon Jae-in, and the swimming lessons allegations involving security personnel. Park served in the Criminal Planning Division of the Ministry of Justice during his time as a junior prosecutor and was the Public Relations Officer at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office from 2022 to 2023.

Jo Sang-won, who led investigations into major cases such as the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation allegations, the Democratic Party leadership election cash envelope scandal, and the presidential election opinion manipulation allegations, was appointed as the Fourth Deputy Chief Prosecutor. He worked closely with Lee Chang-soo, Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, and investigated allegations regarding Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party, and donations to Seongnam FC. Jo is a special prosecutor known for handling significant cases such as the state power abuse scandal and the Lime investment fraud case.

Kim Seung-ho, Head of the Criminal Division 1, and Choi Jae-hoon, Head of the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 2, who are leading frontline investigations into the luxury bag allegations involving First Lady Kim Geon-hee, Deutsche Motors stock manipulation allegations, and the Democratic Party cash envelope scandal, were retained in their positions in this personnel reshuffle.