Financial Supervisory Service Appoints 'Yoon Faction' Prosecutor Cheon Jae-in as Legal Advisor

Cheon Prosecutor Dispatched as Investigation Advisor in January 2023
Jeon Young-woo, Former Legal Advisor, Assigned to Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office

Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office and Financial Supervisory Service
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Lee Bok-hyun, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), appointed Prosecutor Cheon Jae-in (born 1980, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 39) as legal advisor. Prosecutor Cheon was dispatched to the FSS as an investigative advisor in 2023 and moved to the position of legal advisor this year. The predecessor, Prosecutor Jeon Young-woo (born 1980, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 39), completed his two-year term and transferred to the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office.

According to the FSS on the 24th, Governor Lee appointed Prosecutor Cheon as the new legal advisor. The newly dispatched prosecutor is known to be responsible for the position of investigative advisor held by Prosecutor Cheon.

Prosecutor Cheon was dispatched to the FSS in January 2023. Attention was drawn to the fact that he, along with former legal advisor Jeon, came from the rank of ordinary prosecutors. Although Legal Advisor Lee Jung-ryeol, who was an ordinary prosecutor in 2017, was appointed before, generally, FSS legal advisors are dispatched from the ranks of senior prosecutors or deputy senior prosecutors.

The consecutive appointment of ordinary prosecutors to the legal advisor position is interpreted as Governor Lee's intention. The FSS legal advisor's involvement in work was not high. The role was strongly characterized by being an ex officio member dispatched to the Sanctions Review Committee, an advisory body to the FSS Governor. However, internal evaluations within the FSS indicate that the roles of the legal advisor and the legal office have expanded since Governor Lee took office.

In particular, Prosecutor Cheon, like Governor Lee, is a special investigation prosecutor and is considered part of the "Yoon Seok-ryeol faction." In 2019, when Governor Lee was the head prosecutor of the Special Investigation Division 4, Prosecutor Cheon was a prosecutor in Special Investigation Division 1. Former legal advisor Prosecutor Jeon Byung-woo also investigated the Samsung BioLogics accounting fraud allegations with Governor Lee in Special Investigation Division 4. Both are well acquainted with Governor Lee's working style and approach.

There is a scene that reflects Governor Lee's trust in Prosecutor Cheon. Usually, the prosecution dispatches one prosecutor (legal advisor) and one investigator (financial advisor) to the FSS. Prosecutor Cheon came to the FSS as a 'one-point' personnel appointment, separate from the existing dispatched personnel (TO). At that time, the FSS Asset Management Inspection Bureau formed a special inspection task force (TF) to reinvestigate private equity fund incidents such as Optimus and Lime that occurred during the Moon Jae-in administration. Prosecutor Cheon served as a legal advisor at the director level (investigative advisor) in the TF.

The term for a legal advisor dispatched to the FSS is two years. Prosecutor Cheon's move from serving as an investigative advisor for about two years to becoming a legal advisor without returning to the prosecution draws attention.