Court overturns demotion of prosecutor who criticized Daejang-dong appeal waiver

A prosecutor general effectively demoted after publicly criticizing the decision to waive an appeal in the Daejang-dong development corruption case has won her lawsuit seeking to overturn the personnel order against the justice minister.

The Seoul Administrative Court's Fifth Administrative Division, presided over by Judge Lee Jeong-won, ruled Thursday in favor of Jeong Yoo-mi in her suit against Justice Minister Jeong Seong-ho to cancel the personnel reassignment order.

During the proceedings, Jeong argued that the transfer was retaliatory, politically motivated and improper, and that the ministry had improperly exercised its personnel authority either to demote her while circumventing formal disciplinary procedures or to pressure her into resigning. The court accepted that argument.

The first-instance ruling found that the reassignment was "a highly unusual transfer" in which Jeong was moved from a prosecutor general post to a research fellow position within just a few months. "The stated reason was that she had engaged in inappropriate conduct," the court said, "but viewed against past prosecutorial personnel practices, the ministry's intent appears — as Jeong herself argues — to have been to induce her voluntary resignation."

The court added that the ministry had "controlled the prior opinion-gathering process and denied her any opportunity to explain herself." Transferring her in effect to a lower-ranking organization without going through proper disciplinary procedures constituted "an unlawful deviation from and abuse of personnel discretion," it said.

The case stems from the first-instance sentencing last October in the Daejang-dong development corruption case, in which five private businessmen stood trial. Kim Man-bae, the largest shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management — the developer behind the Daejang-dong project — along with accountant Jeong Young-hak and attorney Nam Wook, received sentences of four to eight years in prison, below what prosecutors had sought.

The trial court acquitted the defendants on charges of breach of fiduciary duty under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, but prosecutors declined to appeal, effectively barring any challenge to that finding at the second-instance court.

Following the decision not to appeal, Jeong posted a message on the prosecutors' internal network calling on Prosecutor General Noh Man-seok to "take responsibility and resign," criticizing the leadership. The Ministry of Justice then reassigned her in December last year from a research fellow post at the Justice Training Institute to a prosecutor position at the Daejeon High Prosecutors Office — a move that amounted to a demotion from the prosecutor general level to the senior or deputy prosecutor level.

At the time, the ministry said the reshuffle was intended "to establish discipline and renew the atmosphere within the prosecutorial organization," including the reassignment of a senior prosecutor who had "repeatedly criticized internal members using inappropriate language, damaging the organization's honor and credibility, and raising concerns about the political neutrality and impartiality of the prosecution in the performance of duties."

In response, Jeong filed a lawsuit against the justice minister seeking to cancel the personnel order.

Jeong had also filed for a stay of execution the day after the personnel announcement, alongside the main cancellation suit. The court rejected the stay request, finding it could not conclude that "irreparable harm" would result.