Jin Hyeong-gu, former Daejeon High Prosecutors' Office chief and father-in-law of lawmaker Han Dong-hoon, dies at 81

Jin Hyeong-gu, the former chief of the Daejeon High Prosecutors' Office and father-in-law of independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon, died Sunday. He was 81.

Jin was born in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, and graduated from Gyeongbok High School before earning a degree in electrical engineering from Seoul National University. He passed the 11th bar examination and completed the inaugural class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute.

Jin drew attention early in his legal career as a prosecutor with an engineering background, a rarity at the time. He held a series of senior posts within the prosecution service, including chief of the investigation division at the Seoul District Prosecutors' Office, director of the legal affairs division at the Ministry of Justice, second deputy chief of the Seoul District Prosecutors' Office, chief of the Seoul Western Branch, and head of the trial and public security divisions at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office.

After serving as head of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's public security division in 1998, Jin was promoted to chief of the Daejeon High Prosecutors' Office in 1999. That June, at a luncheon with reporters covering the office, he made remarks suggesting that prosecutors had deliberately provoked the 1998 Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation strike — a statement that placed him at the center of what became known as the "Korea Mint strike instigation case."

The remarks caused a major public uproar and became the catalyst for the introduction of South Korea's first special prosecutor system in constitutional history.

After retiring from the prosecution service, Jin served as publisher of the monthly magazine China Life. He was also active in civic organizations, including the Lawyers for a Democratic Society for Human Rights and Unification on the Korean Peninsula.

He is survived by his wife Choi Yeong-ok; his son Jin Dong-gyun, a former prosecutor; his daughters Jin Min-jeong and Jin Eun-jeong, both lawyers; and his son-in-law, lawmaker Han Dong-hoon. The funeral home is at Room 31 of Seoul St. Mary's Hospital funeral hall, with condolence visits available from 2 p.m. Monday. The funeral procession is set for Wednesday at 8:30 a.m.