It was found that two chief prosecutors of the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office, the nation’s largest public prosecutor’s office, recently expressed their resignation. As front-line chief prosecutors began submitting their resignations ahead of the prosecution’s regular greetings, voices of concern were raised within and outside the prosecution that the ‘line resignation incident’ might be repeated like last year.
According to the legal community on the 20th, Chief Prosecutor Choi Woo-young of the 5th Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office and Chief Prosecutor Na Wook-jin of the International Crime Investigation Department (formerly the Foreign Affairs Department) recently submitted their resignations to the Ministry of Justice. All of them are in the 33rd class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute, and are designated as candidates for promotion to deputy chief prosecutors in the prosecution’s regular personnel appointments scheduled for the end of this month at the earliest.
The two are known to be explaining the reason to those around them, saying, “I submitted a letter of resignation for personal reasons such as economic reasons.” However, in the legal world, there is an analysis that it is not irrelevant to the prosecution’s personnel policy in the meantime, when the preferential treatment of the ‘Seok-Yeol Yoon Division’ or ‘Special Investigator’ was prominent먹튀검증. Among prosecutors who judge that it is difficult to hold a good position or the possibility of promotion is low, there is a widespread perception that it is advantageous in terms of career management and economics to leave the prosecution and settle in a law firm as a chief prosecutor.
Chief Prosecutor Choi has a lot of experience in special investigations, such as working in the Central Investigation Department of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office and being dispatched to the Financial Supervisory Service. In December 2014, he received a commendation from the Minister of Justice for his anti-corruption work. However, after his promotion to chief prosecutor, he worked primarily in the Criminal Division rather than the Special Division. Prosecutor Na is an ‘International Tong’ who has been in charge of the International Crime Investigation Department at the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office since July of last year after serving as a prosecutor at the International Legal Affairs Division of the Ministry of Justice and the head of the International Criminal Division.
Inside and outside the prosecution, it is pointed out that in order to prevent the leakage of middle-ranking prosecutors, who are at the peak of their work, this regular greeting should be conducted without the color of ‘Prosecutor Yoon Seok-yeol’. Previously, in June of last year, the prosecution promoted a large number of prosecutors close to President Yoon’s prosecutors’ offices in the first prosecutor’s appointment in the Yoon Seok-yeol administration. In the personnel affairs of the deputy and chief prosecutors, which were the largest ever , special officers were mainly used, and about 50 prosecutors left the organization and personnel to fill vacant positions continued, suffering aftereffects.
It is expected that this year’s prosecution personnel will be implemented sequentially, starting with the chief prosecutor after the 25th, when the Eulji practice (21st to 24th) ends. An attorney from a chief prosecutor said, “Since the last government, biased personnel appointments have continued for reasons such as political tendencies, and the trend of early retirement of prosecutors is increasing.” Virtually none,” he said. He added, “It seems that balanced personnel are needed to stabilize the organization and create an atmosphere where you can work only by looking at events.”