Justice Ministry panel hears two prosecutors over walkout from Lee Hwa-young trial

The Justice Ministry held a prosecutors' disciplinary committee at 14:00 on 21 October at its building in Gwacheon to review disciplinary requests against Kim Hyun-woo (김현우) and Seo Hyun-wook (서현욱), Yonhap and Newsis reported. Kim, of the Changwon District Prosecutors' Office (창원지방공소청), and Seo, of the Changwon branch of the Busan Prosecutors' Office (부산광역공소청 창원지부), were department heads. The committee examined, among other things, whether there had been a report to superiors before the request to recuse the bench. [ 2 , 3 , 5 ]

The case goes back to 25 November last year. At a pretrial hearing in the trial of Lee Hwa-young, a former Gyeonggi Province peace deputy governor, at the Suwon District Court, four Suwon District Prosecutors' Office trial prosecutors said they would seek to recuse the bench and left the courtroom. Newsis and Seoul Shinmun reported that the court had accepted only 6 of the 64 witnesses the prosecution requested, and the prosecutors said they could not follow an unfair conduct of the trial. President Lee Jae-myung ordered strict inspection and investigation the next day, according to Chosun Ilbo, Yonhap and Newsis. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 7 ]

The Supreme Prosecutors' Office inspection committee concluded in April that discipline was difficult. The Justice Ministry, after a separate inspection, requested a reprimand for the two department heads in August. Newsis and CBS NoCut News described it as the lowest level under the Prosecutors' Discipline Act. According to Newsis, the grounds are breach of the duty of good faith for a recusal request meant to delay the trial, breach of the reporting duty, and a procedural failing in not applying to move a citizen-participation trial to an ordinary one. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 5 , 9 ]

The two rejected the grounds. Kim said an oral request to move to the ordinary procedure was made in court and is in the trial record; Chosun Ilbo noted a record entry from 28 October last year to that effect. Kim Hyun-ah, a lawyer and former Suwon District Prosecutors' Office deputy chief who attended as Kim's special representative, said there was no rule requiring prior approval and that reports had been made. Seo said he had not been involved in the recusal decision and called the grounds absurd. The ministry holds that Seo took part in the trial after his transfer and proposed recusal instead of the referral. [ 1 , 5 , 8 , 9 ]

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials has also dismissed a complaint filed against the four prosecutors for contempt of court and dereliction of duty. Kim said before the hearing that he did not know why he had to stand there, and afterwards that he would consult his lawyers on a possible lawsuit once the result is known. The committee decides by a majority of attending members, and Yonhap and Dong-A Ilbo reported that the result could be notified as early as this week. [ 2 , 3 , 6 , 7 , 8 ]