▲ Senior Prosecutor Kim Hyun-woo of the Changwon District Public Prosecutors' Office (left) and Senior Prosecutor Seo Hyun-wook of the Changwon Branch of the Busan High Public Prosecutors' Office answer questions from reporters as they attend a disciplinary committee meeting at the Ministry of Justice in Gwacheon Government Complex on the 21st.
Prosecutors who filed an objection for recusal and collectively walked out of a trial regarding the "drinking party suspicion and perjury case" involving former Gyeonggi Province Vice Governor for Peace Lee Hwa-young have avoided disciplinary action from the Ministry of Justice.
According to the legal community, the Ministry of Justice's Prosecutor Disciplinary Committee held a meeting on the afternoon of the 21st and resolved to issue an "admonition without penalty" and a "no charges" decision for Senior Prosecutor Kim Hyun-woo of the Changwon District Public Prosecutors' Office and Senior Prosecutor Seo Hyun-wook of the Changwon Branch of the Busan High Public Prosecutors' Office, respectively.
An admonition without penalty is a decision made when grounds for discipline exist but it is deemed appropriate not to impose a formal penalty. Since it is not a formal disciplinary action under the Prosecutor Disciplinary Act, it effectively means that no disciplinary action was taken against them.
The incident stemmed from a trial preparation hearing held on November 25 of last year by the Criminal Division 11 of the Suwon District Court regarding former Vice Governor Lee's violation of the Act on Testimony and Appraisal before the National Assembly.
At the time, four trial prosecutors, including Senior Prosecutor Kim, stated, "We cannot follow unfair trial conduct," after their application for prosecution witnesses was rejected once again, and all of them walked out after expressing their intention to apply for the recusal of the judges.
President Lee Jae-myung expressed concern and regret over the collective walkout by the prosecutors the next day and ordered strict inspection and investigation into them.
Subsequently, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office (currently the Public Prosecutors' Office) Inspection Committee judged that it was difficult to discipline the prosecutors in question.
However, following a separate inspection, the Ministry of Justice requested disciplinary action of reprimand in August against Senior Prosecutor Kim—who was then the head of the Criminal Division 6 at the Suwon District Prosecutor's Office—and Senior Prosecutor Seo.
Kim Hyun-ah, former First Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, and Lee Seong-beom, former Second Deputy Chief Prosecutor, who were in the reporting and command chain at the time, concluded their matters with a ministerial warning.
For Senior Prosecutor Kim, the reasons presented for the disciplinary request included the violation of the obligation to report in advance regarding the application for judicial recusal and the failure to apply for the conversion of a national participation trial into a regular trial through standard procedures.
Senior Prosecutor Seo was pointed out for having suggested that the trial prosecutor apply for a recusal instead of applying for a transfer to standard procedures.
In response, Senior Prosecutor Kim has maintained that the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office had reported the policy and progress of the recusal application to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in advance, and that he had orally requested at the trial preparation hearing that the national participation trial be referred to standard procedures.
Senior Prosecutor Seo also protested, asking, "Can someone be disciplined simply for expressing an opinion?"
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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