Im Gwan-hyeok (58, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 26), the Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office, has expressed his intention to resign.
According to the legal community on the 3rd, Im informed the Ministry of Justice of his resignation through the Supreme Prosecutors' Office on the same day.
Last month, the Prosecutor General Candidate Recommendation Committee recommended Im, Shim Woo-jeong (class 26), Deputy Minister of Justice, Shin Ja-yong (class 28), Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, and Lee Jin-dong (class 28), Chief Prosecutor of the Daegu High Prosecutors' Office, as candidates for the next Prosecutor General, with Deputy Minister Shim being nominated as the candidate.
In 2010, while serving as Deputy Chief of the Special 1st Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, he prosecuted former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook on charges of illegal political fund receipt.
From 2014 to 2015, he consecutively served as Chief of the Special 2nd Division and Special 1st Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, investigating corruption among STX Group executives, legislative lobbying cases involving members of the then-New Politics Alliance for Democracy, and allegations of resource diplomacy corruption during the Lee Myung-bak administration.
During President Yoon's tenure as Prosecutor General from 2019 to 2020, he served as head of the Sewol Ferry Disaster Special Investigation Unit, indicting former Coast Guard Commissioner Kim Seok-gyun and other Coast Guard leadership, as well as former Blue House Chief of Staff Lee Byung-gi.
Im, who faced setbacks in promotions during the Moon Jae-in administration, was promoted to Chief Prosecutor in June 2022 and completed the investigation into the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy blacklist allegations as Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office. He was promoted to Chief Prosecutor of the Daejeon High Prosecutors' Office in September last year and has been serving as Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office since May this year.
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