Acting prosecutor general says he will await probe results before deciding on dropping charges against President Lee

Lee Jeong-hyeon, the acting prosecutor general and deputy chief of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, said Wednesday on his first day at work that he would "wait and see the results" of an ongoing fact-finding investigation before deciding whether to drop criminal charges against President Lee Jae Myung.

Lee made the remarks to reporters at 8:51 a.m. as he arrived at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul, responding to questions about the possibility of withdrawing the indictments against the president.

In June, the Ministry of Justice launched the Prosecution Human Rights and Future Committee, a body tasked with investigating alleged human rights violations and abuses of authority by prosecutors. At the committee's request, a separate fact-finding team was formed and is currently reviewing 19 cases in total, including eight directly or indirectly related to President Lee.

Lee was also asked about past remarks in which he described the investigation into SBW's alleged transfer of funds to North Korea as a flawed approach. He said the comments reflected his "basic philosophy on self-initiated investigations," adding that "restrained investigations — ones that cut out only what needs to be cut out, conducted with dignity — have been emphasized by successive prosecutors general and justice ministers. There were aspects that did not align with that, so I responded on principle."

At a National Assembly hearing in April on the parliamentary investigation into allegations of politically motivated prosecutions under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, Lee agreed with criticism of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office's handling of the SBW North Korea funds case, calling it "a very flawed investigative approach."

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Justice announced plans to amend the Prosecutors' Quota Act to reduce the number of prosecutors at the new Public Prosecution Service to between 80 and 85 percent of the current 2,292. Asked about the proposal, Lee said he would need to examine the matter further, but noted that a review of caseloads at the Suwon High Prosecutors' Office and district offices under its jurisdiction found prosecutors struggling with backlogs of 600 to 700 unresolved cases each. "There is a significant shortage in actual working conditions," he said, adding that he would need to "work closely with the Ministry of Justice" on the issue.

Lee joined the prosecution service in 1988 as a prosecutor at the northern branch of the Seoul District Prosecutors' Office. During the Moon Jae-in administration, he served as first deputy chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in 2020, overseeing the investigation into the so-called media-prosecution collusion allegations. After the Yoon administration took office, he was transferred to the Legal Research and Training Institute — widely regarded as a backwater posting — before serving most recently as chief of the Suwon High Prosecutors' Office under the Lee Jae Myung administration.

With the prosecution service set to be abolished and replaced by the Public Prosecution Service on Oct. 2, Lee is expected to serve as acting head of the new body for now.