Disciplinary panel decides to suspend top prosecutor for 2 months

Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl / Korea Times file

A justice ministry panel voted Wednesday to suspend Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl from duty for two months in an unprecedented move blamed on his alleged legal lapses.

The decision was reached at the end of a second hearing attended by members of the disciplinary committee, five witnesses and Yoon's lawyers at the government complex in Gwacheon, south of Seoul.

Suspension is the third-heaviest of five forms of punishment for a prosecutor, after two types of dismissals and followed by a salary reduction and reprimand. It can be executed by President Moon Jae-in upon the recommendation of Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae.

Yoon has been accused by Choo of six counts of ethical and legal misdeeds, including surveillance of the judiciary.

Citing the charges, Choo suspended Yoon last month, but he returned to work after winning a court injunction against the order.

The disciplinary panel said Yoon was found responsible for four of the six allegations, including surveillance of the judiciary, interference in the investigation into a controversial case involving a journalist as well as damage to his political neutrality.

The panel said it has also accepted the other two allegations, including an improper meeting with the owner of a media company, but decided not to pursue punishment on those accounts.

"I ask for people's understanding for any dissatisfaction (with the decision)," Chung Han-joong, the acting chair of the disciplinary committee, told reporters following the decision.

Having denied all the allegations, Yoon immediately protested the disciplinary action, pledging to take a legal step to fight it.

In a press release, Yoon called the panel's decision "illegal and unfair" and vowed to "correct the error in accordance with the due procedures under the Constitution and the law."

The top prosecutor was absent from Tuesday's hearing as he was during the first session last week.

The five witnesses, including four who are considered Yoon's allies, were questioned by both the panel and the defense at Tuesday's closed-door hearing.

The defense then asked to have a third session scheduled for another day to allow time to prepare Yoon's final statement. When the panel rejected the request, the lawyers walked out in protest.

"We tried hard to vindicate (Yoon), but I get a feeling that, regardless of our efforts, the justice ministry had already made up its mind," Yoon's lawyer, Lee Wan-kyu, told reporters as he left the building.

"Our basic stance is that it is hard to accept the outcome because the disciplinary process itself is illegal and unfair, so we plan to respond accordingly," he said, indicating Yoon would seek legal action, including a court injunction, to overturn the punishment.

Yoon's defense earlier filed motions to disqualify two of the four committee members, questioning their impartiality, but both were struck down by the panel.

By law, the committee should have seven members, including the justice minister as chair, but they were reduced to four after Choo, as the petitioner, and others dropped out.

The ruling Democratic Party (DP) welcomed the disciplinary decision against Yoon, but the conservative main opposition People Power Party (PPP) strongly denounced it.

"(The DP) respects the disciplinary decision by the panel," a party spokesman, Rep. Choi In-ho, said in a release. "(The party) wishes that this will serve as a chance for the prosecution to be born again as one that is fair to everyone and protective of the human rights of the people," he noted.

PPP chief Kim Chong-in, however, denounced the decision as "totally unreasonable" and laid the blame on President Moon's attitude "that goes against common sense." (Yonhap)