Acting prosecutor general Lee Jung-hyun: 'Mixed feelings' about transition to prosecution office

Lee Jung-hyun (58), the newly appointed deputy chief of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, moved Tuesday to shore up morale within the organization just 10 days before the prosecutors' office is dissolved and replaced by a new prosecution agency.

With the prosecutor general post vacant, Lee faces the weighty task of overseeing the most sweeping restructuring of the agency in 78 years — while working to calm the anxieties of junior prosecutors and staff.

The Ministry of Justice issued a targeted personnel move Tuesday, appointing Lee — previously chief of the Suwon High Prosecutors' Office — as the new Supreme Prosecutors' Office deputy chief. The appointment fills the leadership gap left by the resignation of former deputy chief Gu Ja-hyeon and prepares for the launch of the new prosecution office, scheduled for Oct. 2.

Because the prosecutor general post has remained vacant for an extended period since the current administration took office, Lee assumes the acting prosecutor general role immediately upon taking up his new position — tasked with closing the final chapter of the prosecutors' office and laying the groundwork for its successor agency.

Lee distributed a written farewell address Tuesday in lieu of a formal ceremony, conveying a sense of weighty responsibility. "My heart is heavy when I think of the many challenges we face, inside and out, as the new prosecution office prepares to open," he said. "Watching the prosecutors' office — to which I devoted myself from a young age — transform into something new, I am filled with mixed feelings and a sense of regret."

He particularly sought to reassure frontline prosecutors whose anxiety has peaked amid the separation of investigative powers and the dissolution of the agency. "The younger members who will spend more of their careers at the new prosecution office will likely feel that the road ahead is dark and uncertain," he said. "Change is frightening for everyone, but it can also be an opportunity to renew ourselves and become better." He added, "Even if it is painful right now, I will give everything I have left to make this a path toward a better future."

Addressing the staff of the Suwon High Prosecutors' Office, which he led for roughly 10 months, Lee said he was grateful to the district prosecutors' offices and branch offices "for handling so many cases with care despite difficult staffing and budget conditions." He pledged to "be a humble presence that listens to the voices of its members so that the entire organization can operate in harmony."