Is the Moon administration in internal dispute over prosecutorial reform?

President Moon Jae-in, front left, and Shin Hyun-soo, far right, senior presidential aide for civil affairs, show their respect for the national flag ahead of a Cabinet meeting along with other participants at Cheong Wa Dae, Feb. 16. Korea Times photo by Wang Tae-seok

By Do Je-hae

The conflict between the ruling bloc and the prosecution is showing no signs of subsiding even after the resignation of former Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae, with fresh feuds rising over the latest reshuffle of senior prosecutors conducted by new Justice Minister Park Beom-kye.

The clash has expanded to Cheong Wa Dae, with Shin Hyun-soo, senior presidential secretary for civil affairs who oversees matters related to the prosecution, expressing his intention to resign in protest of being left out of the personnel decisions by the new justice minister. Shin is the first prosecutor to be appointed to the post under the Moon Jae-in administration.

Shin was appointed to the post on Dec. 31, and it is considered extremely rare for a senior presidential aide to consider resigning only weeks after being appointed.

Cheong Wa Dae acknowledged Wednesday that the senior presidential secretary for civil affairs had expressed his intention to resign but added President Moon rejected this proposal. The presidential office also admitted that there were some problems in the process of coordinating the personnel reshuffle at the prosecution.

“The prosecution and the justice ministry had some differing opinions regarding the reshuffle of senior prosecutors,” a senior presidential source said. “In the process of coordinating the differences between the two sides, Shin expressed his intention to resign several times but the President disapproved each time.”

It is said Shin was against the new minister's decision to retaining Lee Sung-yoon, head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. Lee is known to be a close aide to former Justice Minister Choo.

Lee and Choo had a falling out with Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl over the Moon administration's prosecutorial reform plan. The conflict between the prosecution and the justice ministry peaked under Choo, who resigned in December 2020 after failing to suspend Yoon from duty over allegations of misdeeds.

Moon turned to Shin to be his senior aide dealing with the prosecution to put the Choo-Yoon conflict behind them and give fresh momentum to his key policy agenda of judicial reform.

“Shin has expressed his intention to resign only a month after being appointed due to the irrational personnel decision. It has become difficult to expect normalization of the prosecution,” said Rep. Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP). “The Moon administration has retained prosecutors who will hide its corruption and has kicked out those who would have conducted a meticulous investigation into them. This is unacceptable even for the senior presidential aide for civil affairs.”

But Moon supporters criticized Shin for crossing the line as an aide. “It seems Shin was taking the prosecution's side and has decided to resign when his opinions were not reflected,” said Hwang Hee-seok, a supreme council member of the minor opposition Open Minjoo Party, where most members are Moon supporters.