Lee Jung-hyun, the newly appointed deputy chief of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and acting prosecutor general, said a fact-finding team's review must be completed before any decision is made on whether to drop charges in cases involving President Lee Jae-myung.
"A fact-finding investigation is under way by the fact-finding team, so I think we will have to look at the results," he told reporters on the 23rd as he arrived for his first day at the office in Seoul's Seocho district.
Lee's appointment as the effective final head of the prosecution service has drawn concern in some quarters that the move was made with the withdrawal of charges against the president in mind, given that he is seen as sympathetic to the governing bloc. Rather than rule out that possibility, he said he would wait for the findings.
Asked whether he stood by his past criticism of how the Ssangbangwool cross-border remittance case was investigated, he called it "my basic philosophy on prosecutor-initiated investigations." He added: "Restrained investigations, dignified investigations, investigations that cut out only the diseased part — every prosecutor general and justice minister has stressed this. In that sense, I think there were aspects that did not meet the standard."
On the Justice Ministry's push to cut the number of authorized prosecutor positions, he pointed to workloads and staffing shortages in the field. "I will need to look at it gradually, but from what I have seen of the work at the Suwon High Prosecutors' Office and district office, a single prosecutor's room can be handling 240 or 270 cases, and the number of people actually on duty is considerably short," he said. "I think that is something we will have to discuss with the Justice Ministry."
Addressing growing anxiety among staff ahead of the launch of the new Public Prosecution Office, he stressed communication. "The more difficult the situation, the more important it is to pull together and communicate," he said. "I will share whatever information there is so that small misunderstandings do not arise."
On relations with the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency and the police, he said the arrangement "has shifted from a chain of command to an equal, cooperative relationship." He added: "We need to further strengthen advance cooperation, including signing memorandums of understanding. That is the desirable horizontal relationship between state agencies."
"I feel the weight on my shoulders at taking on such a critical role at a difficult time," he said. "I will do everything possible to protect socially vulnerable people and victims of economic crime so that the Public Prosecution Office settles in as an institution that safeguards human rights."
The Justice Ministry made the single, targeted appointment a day earlier, moving the high prosecutors' office chief into the deputy post at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office. It came two months after the previous deputy chief resigned. From the 23rd, Lee takes on the acting prosecutor general's duties and will lead preparations for the launch of the Public Prosecution Office.
