Acting prosecutor chief says no review of dropping charges against President Lee

Lee Jeong-hyeon (이정현), acting prosecutor general and deputy head of the Prosecution Service main office, said he has not reviewed cancelling the indictments in President Lee Jae-myung's criminal cases. He spoke at the National Assembly Legislative and Judiciary Committee's audit on 22 October. Dong-A Ilbo reported that he was replying to Kwak Kyu-taek (곽규택) of the People Power Party, who asked whether he meant to cancel the president's indictment using the work of what the lawmaker called an illegal fact-finding team. Newsis reported the question as a remark that the team was only questioning cases at first instance. [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]

Lee said he had not reviewed it and that no other intent was involved at all, according to Dong-A Ilbo. He described his earlier statement as an extremely principled position. On 23 September, his first day at work after appointment, he had said the result of the fact-finding team's inquiry needed to be examined. That was read as leaving room for cancellation. At the audit he asked how he could dare say whether he would or would not cancel, on a hypothetical, while the team's process was ongoing. [ 1 , 4 , 5 ]

Dong-A Ilbo also reported that on 23 September he had spoken about the Ssangbangwool North Korea remittance case, which he had earlier called a very wrong investigative method, saying it had aspects that did not meet the standard. [ 4 ]

The fact-finding team works under the Justice Ministry's committee, which was launched in June to examine alleged human rights violations and abuse of power by prosecutors. It is examining 19 cases. Yonhap and Newsis said 8 involve the president directly or indirectly, while Dong-A Ilbo said he was directly indicted in six. On 15 October the committee received reports on three cases, including the Wirye new town case, and asked for supplementary work. Dong-A Ilbo said the first conclusion found some procedural errors but little basis to assert fabrication or illegality. Newsis said the team reportedly could not conclude there was prosecutorial illegality. Lee acknowledged the reports but declined to say whether no illegality was found, saying an answer could affect the ongoing inquiry. [ 1 , 2 , 4 , 5 ]

Earlier audits had also covered the issue. Acting Justice Minister Lee Jin-su (이진수) said on 8 October that former minister Jeong Seong-ho had made clear he did not intend to order cancellation through direction of specific cases, but that follow-up would depend on the committee's findings. Park Cheol-woo (박철우), head of the Seoul Central district prosecution service, said on 19 October that he had not reviewed cancellation. [ 1 , 2 ]

Other expected topics included the vacant prosecutor general post, which Newsis said has been empty for over a year. The Justice Ministry closed public recommendations for candidates on 21 October. Questions were also expected on the MBK Partners Homeplus investigation and prosecutor staffing. [ 2 ]