Seoul prosecution chief says no review of dropping Lee cases at first audit

The National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee held the first audit of the prosecution service on 19 October, after the Prosecutors' Office was abolished and the service launched on 2 October. Park Cheol-woo, head of the Seoul Central District Prosecution Service, told the committee that no review of cancelling the indictments in President Lee Jae-myung's cases had taken place. Asked by People Power Party lawmaker Yoon Sang-hyun, Park also said there had been no request for an opinion or materials from, and no consultation with, the main prosecution service or the Justice Ministry about cancellation. [ 1 , 2 , 5 , 14 , 17 , 25 ]

Park said the case draws high public attention but is no different from any other, and that as a rule what will be done in an individual case cannot be stated. Park said the office is not involved in the work of the fact-finding team of the Justice Ministry's Prosecutorial Human Rights Respect Future Committee. Kwak Kyu-taek of the People Power Party called the team's activity illegal; Park replied it cannot be called illegal. Park said the records the team requested were provided, while Suwon prosecution head Kim Bong-hyeon said that office was neither asked for nor provided materials. The Seoul Central office handles the Daejang-dong, Baekhyeon-dong and Wirye cases, and trials in them have been halted since Lee took office. [ 5 , 6 , 14 , 17 ]

On the case of independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon's daughter, Park said it was not usual, in light of past work patterns, that Seoul Central prosecutors did not forward a police request for international judicial cooperation. Seoul police made the request in November 2022 over an e-book allegedly made from another person's maths problems and sold on Amazon for 0.99 dollars; prosecutors did not pass it to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and the Justice Ministry, citing insufficient grounds and a minor matter. Han was justice minister then. Democratic Party lawmaker Park Gyun-taek said that was for the Justice Ministry to decide, and Park Cheol-woo promised to handle future warrant requests fairly. Asked by Kim Dong-a to compare with the probe of former minister Cho Kuk's family, Park said there were parts that were hard to empathise with from the public's sense of the law. Police decided in December 2023 not to refer the Han family case to prosecutors. Han denies the allegations, saying on 10 October that permission had been obtained from the foreign copyright holder. [ 9 , 11 , 14 , 17 , 23 , 27 ]

Park also expressed a heavy heart over the loss of the prosecution's direct investigation and supplementary investigation functions. Pressed by lawmaker Park Eun-jung, Park said the awareness existed that prosecutorial power had not been restrained and had departed from fairness, and apologised to the public. Park Eun-jung replied that this was not enough. [ 6 , 8 , 14 , 28 ]

The parties clashed over the abolition. People Power Party lawmakers Kwak Kyu-taek and Kim Tae-gyu criticised the removal of investigative powers, and Kwak said veteran prosecutors should have stepped down. Democratic Party lawmakers, including Kim Yong-min and Lee Sung-yoon, cited abuse of prosecutorial power and political, retaliatory and targeted investigations. Kim Han-gyu said the inquiry into the leak of the indictment plan Han disclosed was inadequate. Kwak asked the Seoul Western head, Kim Hyang-yeon, whether Kim Seung-won should be indicted again, and was told there was currently no change in facts or evidence. [ 3 , 15 , 16 , 25 , 30 , 34 ]

Park said the Seoul Central office averages about 1.4 trial panels per trial prosecutor and that staffing is very poor. Before the audit, Newsis said the absence of a prosecutor general and a justice minister was expected to be raised. [ 1 , 6 ]