Prosecutors' probe unit set to launch as 'fabricated indictment' special counsel rationale wavers

By Choi Eui-jong, The Herald Business

The Supreme Prosecutors' Office is set to establish a fact-finding unit at the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office as early as Wednesday, at the request of a newly formed Ministry of Justice committee tasked with investigating alleged abuses of prosecutorial power.

According to legal sources Tuesday, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office is reviewing a plan to secure office space for the fact-finding unit at the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office in Songpa-gu and deploy personnel there by Wednesday. Kim Su-hong, head of the Ministry of Justice's prosecution division, has been named as a candidate to lead the unit.

The move is grounded in a Ministry of Justice directive governing the Committee for Prosecutors' Human Rights and Future — known as the Prosecutors' Future Committee — which allows the panel to request that the justice minister establish an independent investigative body. The committee may also ask the minister to have members of that body report directly on the progress and results of their investigations.

The Prosecutors' Future Committee launched on June 10 and held its first meeting, selecting seven cases for initial review: the Ssangbangwool inter-Korean funds transfer case, the Daejangdong development case, the case involving former Democratic Research Institute Vice Chairman Kim Yong, the Wirye new town case, the shooting death of a South Korean civil servant at sea, the statistics manipulation case, and allegations of false reporting related to defamation of Yoon Suk Yeol.

On June 16, the committee began accepting public submissions through July 4, inviting citizens to propose additional cases for investigation. Submissions must describe alleged human rights violations or abuses of prosecutorial authority and include supporting materials; the committee said it will review submissions internally before selecting cases for formal inquiry.

The Prosecutors' Future Committee was created after Justice Minister Jeong Seong-ho ordered in April the establishment of a body to examine cases in which human rights violations or abuses of authority were alleged during prosecutorial investigations and indictments. Critics have noted that the committee's work overlaps with the ruling Democratic Party of Korea's push for a special prosecutor bill targeting fabricated indictments, suggesting the committee is laying the groundwork for that legislation.

The cases selected by the Prosecutors' Future Committee at its first meeting largely mirror the investigative targets defined under the special prosecutor bill. Several of those cases also involve matters related to President Lee Jae Myung. However, observers note that the rationale for the special prosecutor bill has been shaken by the recent perjury conviction of former Gyeonggi Province Deputy Governor Lee Hwa-young, who was indicted on charges stemming from what has been called the "salmon drinking party" affair.

The 11th Criminal Division of Suwon District Court sentenced the former deputy governor to four months in prison on Friday following a citizen jury trial on perjury and other charges. According to prosecutors, Lee Hwa-young is accused of giving false testimony at National Assembly hearings and elsewhere, claiming that during a 2023 Suwon District Prosecutors' Office investigation, she and others ate salmon sashimi and coordinated testimony to be given against then-Democratic Party leader Lee Jae Myung.

A seven-member jury deliberated for nine and a half hours beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday, returning a split verdict of four guilty to three not guilty. The court found that Lee Hwa-young's testimony that the salmon drinking party had taken place constituted perjury. She was acquitted on charges of violating the Political Funds Act, and the charge of obstruction of rights through abuse of authority was dismissed.