On the day after inauguration, Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon appointed key prosecutors. Prosecutors from the so-called ‘Yun Seok-Yeol Division’, who were relegated from the previous administration, occupied major positions.
Lee Won-seok (53, 27th Judicial Research and Training Institute) Jeju District Prosecutor’s Office was appointed as the deputy chief prosecutor of the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office to perform the duties of the vacant prosecutor general. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, the nation’s largest public prosecutor’s office, is headed by Song Kyung-ho (52/29) Suwon High Prosecutor’s Office, while Shin Shin-yong (50/28) Seoul High Prosecutor’s Office is the head of the Planning and Coordination Office of the Ministry of Justice. (48/29) The Busan West Branch Manager was appointed.
The new Deputy Chief Prosecutor Lee Won-seok (High Prosecutor General) is one of the representative special prosecutors in the prosecution, who worked with President Yoon Seok-yeol and Minister Han in the Special Prosecution Team of the Park Geun-hye government in 2017. He is also a prosecutor who directly investigated former President Park Geun-hye.
President Yoon served as the head of the planning and coordination department for the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, a key staff member during his time as the Prosecutor General. After that, she was relegated to the position of deputy chief of the Suwon High Prosecutors’ Office when Chu Mi-ae was the former minister, but was transferred to the head of the Jeju District Prosecutors’ Office and suffered a series of demotions.
Lee has been consistently mentioned as a candidate for the Prosecutor General. He is expected to lead the prosecution organization until a new prosecutor general is appointed to replace Deputy Chief Park Seong-jin, who has resigned several times.
Song Kyung-ho, the new chief of the Central Prosecutors’ Office, served as the 3rd deputy chief of the Central Prosecutors’ Office in charge of special investigations in 2019, when President Yoon moved to the position of the 2nd special division when President Yun was the head of the Seoul Central Prosecutors’ At this time, he led the investigation and command of the family of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, but was demoted to the position of the head of the Yeoju branch of the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office and the prosecutor of the Suwon High Prosecutor’s Office.
Prosecutor Shin-yong Shin served as the head of the special department under Han when he was the 3rd deputy chief of the Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office. Director Shin is also a special prosecutor in the Park Geun-hye administration’s National Nongdan Special Prosecutor’s Office, who worked with President Yoon and others. He also served as the general team leader of the hearing preparation team during a minister’s personnel hearing.
Kwon Soon-jeong, the new head of the keynote office of the Ministry of Justice, served as the second chief of the detective division when President Yoon served as chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, and served as a spokesperson for the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office while he served as the president. He was praised for faithfully conveying President Yoon’s will to the media on sensitive controversies.
On the other hand, Lee Seong-yoon, chief of the Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office (60th and 23rd class), Lee Jung-su, chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office (53rd and 26th class), Lee Jung-hyeon, chief of the public investigation department of the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office, and Shim Jae-cheol, chief of the Southern District Prosecutors’ Lee Jong-geun, the chief of the Seoul Western District Prosecutors’ Office, and Shin Sung-shik, the chief of the Suwon District Public Prosecutors’ Office, were also appointed as deputy chief prosecutors of the Daegu High Prosecutors’ Office and the Gwangju High Prosecutors’ Office, respectively.
Seoul Central Prosecutor’s Office 2nd Deputy Chief Park Cheol-woo and Jin Jae-seon 3rd Deputy Prosecutor were transferred to Daegu High Prosecutors’ Office, 4th Deputy Prosecutor Kim Tae-hoon was transferred to Busan High Prosecutor’s Office, respectively.
Reporter Yoo-kyung Jo, Donga.com polaris27@donga.com
