Choo's push to remove Yoon causing stir in justice ministry

Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae arrives at the ministry's building in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday. Yonhap

By Bahk Eun-ji

The Ministry of Justice and the prosecution are in turmoil and consumed with internal strife amid signs of internal systemic collapse following the resignation of key officials over the feud between Minister Choo Mi-ae and Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl.

Choo is facing growing criticism that in her hurried push to remove Yoon ― with whom she has collided over prosecutorial reform ― she has ignored due ministry procedure and the prosecution in seeking to suspend him from duty and discipline him, resulting in havoc in both organizations and internal protests from members.

On Nov 24, Choo ordered the suspension of Yoon from his duties, and formed a disciplinary committee to look into alleged “illegal” amassing of information on judges involved in controversial cases and interference in investigations to protect people close to him, including his family members. But the Seoul Administrative Court accepted Tuesday an injunction request from Yoon to halt the order until a ruling was made in a separate suit he had to void the order. Hours before the court decision, an inspection committee under the justice ministry also concluded that Choo's order had grave procedural flaws.

Despite the ruling and recommendation, Choo is pushing ahead with holding the disciplinary committee meeting, Dec.10.

The meeting was supposed to be led by Vice Justice Minister Koh Ki-young, but he tendered his resignation Monday, after his suggestion to Choo that the disciplinary measure against Yoon should be withdrawn was not accepted.

“I believe that all members of the prosecution will gather wisdom and overcome the matter,” he wrote on the prosecution's intranet Wednesday after his resignation was accepted.

Immediately after this, President Moon Jae-in appointed Lee Yong-gu, a former judge close to the ruling bloc, to replace him.

There have been multiple complaints within the ministry that “Choo has alienated most ranking officials as she works with a small number of her allies.”

This was proven as the minister ignored the chain of command when looking into Yoon's activities before announcing the order to suspend him.

Park Eun-jeong, an official involved in this, failed to report to her immediate supervisor in earlier November that she was trying to question the prosecutor general for the inspection.

In a meeting of the inspection committee, Tuesday, Park said she was just following Choo's instructions not to report to the senior inspector for security reasons.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, which has been investigating alleged corruption by Yoon's family members, is also in disarray.

Kim Wook-joon, the first deputy chief prosecutor at the office and a close aide to the office head Lee Sung-yoon, known to be an ally of Choo, expressed his intention to resign, Wednesday.

“Please immediately stop taking measures that threaten the political neutrality and value of the existence of the prosecution,” Kim said in a letter posted on the intranet of the prosecution. Although the letter did not address the justice minister directly, it is widely interpreted as a demand that Choo halt her move to push ahead with disciplinary action against Yoon.

In response to the ongoing confusion, Choo dismissed rumors of her own resignation, writing, “I cannot give up my responsibility for prosecutorial reform,” on Facebook, Thursday.

She added that the prosecution, which she claimed was already politically influential enough to select a target for investigation and produce media manipulation, was paralyzing systems of democratic control.

On the same day, President Moon said procedural legitimacy was important for the disciplinary committee, according to Cheong Wa Dae. Presidential spokesman Kang Min-seok said the presidential office could not and would not give any “guidelines” to the committee to affect its decision.