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| Reporters surround Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae on her way to her office at the ministry building in Gwacheon, Monday. / Yonhap |
By Lee Suh-yoon
Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae was openly criticized Monday by an incumbent senior prosecutor for her recent reshuffling of top prosecutors.
Jung Hee-do, a senior prosecutor at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seoul, posted an open letter on the prosecution's intranet bulletin board denouncing Choo, calling the reassignments an attempt to make the prosecution subservient to the Moon administration's demands.
"The Jan. 18 reshuffling of senior prosecutors was shocking," he wrote. "This personnel reshuffling targets the lead investigators of specific cases, turning the prosecutor general into a mere scarecrow."
Jung added that the new assignments also did not take into account "legal procedures," saying Choo did not take sufficient measures to get Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol's opinion before announcing her decision last week.
According to Article 34 of the Prosecutors' Office Law, justice ministers must listen to and consult with the prosecutor general before reassigning prosecutors. Choo previously denied a similar accusation saying Yoon was the one who refused to give her his thoughts on the matter.
"How does telling the prosecutor general to give his opinion just 30 minutes before a personnel committee meeting without him knowing the specifics of the reassignments count as listening to the prosecutor general's views?" Jung wrote. "The relevant article should be interpreted as respecting the prosecutor general's opinion to the greatest degree possible. Yet the minister claims it was the prosecutor general who disobeyed her orders."
Choo, a former judge and ruling party chairwoman, was appointed by President Moon Jae-in after her predecessor Cho Kuk resigned due to a family-related corruption scandal uncovered by the prosecution. On Jan. 8, she demoted Prosecutor General Yoon's chief aides ― sometimes called the "Yoon Seok-yeol kids" by local media ― by sending them to posts at regional offices.
Further personnel reassignments are also expected among lower-ranking prosecutors.
Critics say Choo's actions are purely political and are aimed at forcing the resignation of Yoon. The prosecutor general was appointed by President Moon last July to lead prosecutorial reform from the inside but fell out with the administration after the launch of the investigation into former Justice Minister Cho.
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