Prosecutor Eun-jung Lim on September 10, 2020. yunhap news
Investigation is expected to begin in earnest as the prosecution policy researcher at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office (30th Judicial Research and Training Institute), who had been inspecting the suspicion of a coercive investigation and perjury teacher by the investigation team at the time of the’Illegal Political Fund Transfer Case’, received an adjunct appointment as a Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office. This is because Researcher Lim once expressed his intention to prosecute the chief prosecutor at the time and even maintain the prosecution during the inspection process. In the legal profession, there are concerns about whether objective investigation would be possible if re-investigation was entrusted to Researcher Lim, who has a prediction that “investigation prosecutors are guilty” of Han Myung-sook, who was convicted by the Supreme Court.
Interested before the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office was issued.
“Im, it seems like I have decided in advance”
① “Witness perjury teacher investigation prosecutor is guilty” prejudice controversy
According to the JoongAng Ilbo coverage on the 23rd, the first controversy raised by the legal community is that Researcher Lim has a strong preconceived notion regarding the suspicion of a perjury teacher, Han Myung-sook trial witness. In the first trial of the former Prime Minister’s trial, Choi Mo, a fellow inmate of the late Han Man-ho, who was the prosecution’s witness, submitted a petition to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in April of last year stating that there was a perjury teacher of the prosecution.
In February-March 2011, Choi testified in court with another fellow inmate Kim Mo, “I heard in the detention center saying that President Han Man-ho gave money to former Prime Minister Han”, and after nine years, it was due to the prosecutor’s false statement. He overturned and filed a complaint.
Researcher Lim made a public remark, criticizing President Yoon as the prosecutor of the Ulsan District Prosecutor’s Office, who was not related to the case, when the prosecutor general Yoon Seok-yeol and the prosecutor General Han Dong-soo had a conflict over where to allocate the case.
Researcher Lim said in a column in the Kyunghyang Shinmun on June 29 of the same year, “After seeing the dispute on dividends in the case of perjury teacher Han Myung-sook case, the whole public came to realize how desperate it is to improve fairness and transparency in dividends.” He wrote, “It is true prosecution reform only when the part that needs to be corrected, not the part allowed by the prosecution as a patient, is corrected.”
Researcher Lim rebelled against the fact that Yoon’s decision to supervise Han Dong-soo himself, saying, “The disciplinary prescription has passed,” and allocating the complaint to the Human Rights Supervisory Office of the Central District Prosecutor’s Office. One prosecution officer pointed out, “It is difficult to evaluate the dividend issue if any prosecutor is in a position not related to the case.”
The Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office, led by Prosecutor Seong-yoon Lee, concluded that the complaint was not suspicious of the case, reported it to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, and concluded the investigation.
Shortly after, the then Minister of Justice Chu Mi-ae invoked the authority to command the investigation, and the prosecution manager Han Dong-su went on to re-inspection. Researcher Lim was also appointed as the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office Policy Researcher in September of the same year to participate in the investigation directly. He later asked President Yun to give him the right to investigate again, but it is said that he was refused once. Then, with the appointment of one-point personnel from Justice Minister Park Bum-gye, the wish has come true on the 22nd of this month.
Immediately after the appointment of personnel, Researcher Lim said on his Facebook page, “As a researcher in charge of the supervisory affairs, I did not have any hardships because I did not have the right to investigate, but I was given the right to investigate.” “I am still concubine, but a pair of hiking boots seems to be worth it. It’s reassuring.”
Researcher Lim’s fellow prosecutor said, “From the beginning when Researcher Lim was in charge of the inspection, I had the impression that he had decided on a conclusion in advance.”
On the 23rd, Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol. yunhap news
② Controversy over the political bias of’friendship’
Researcher Lim’s publicly expressed political bias is also a subject of controversy. Isn’t it biased toward the current Democratic Party regime and the progressive camp? In connection with the case of former Justice Minister Cho Kook, Researcher Lim criticized the investigation team, saying, “The prosecution is conducting a dust investigation.” On the other hand, Park Won-soon remained silent about the alleged sexual harassment case of former Seoul Mayor.
This is the reason why suspicion has been raised that he was attempting to participate in the rescue of former Prime Minister Han, the grandmother of his passport, since he showed interest in the petition involving former Prime Minister Han Myung-sook before the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office was issued. Perjury teachers showed willingness to prosecute before the expiry of the statute of prosecution (March 22), which is also a controversial factor because the re-election (April 7) was ahead.
③ Controversy over the legitimacy of investigation qualifications and procedures
Criticism has also been raised for the lack of legitimacy of the procedure until Researcher Lim obtained the right to investigate the case of Han Myung-sook. From the time he moved to the Great Prosecutor’s Office, Researcher Lim established a position as an inspector policy researcher that did not exist in the past under the name of inspecting policy research and received one-point personnel appointments. Subsequently, it is evaluated that it is difficult to find a precedent in the past because the authority of independent investigation and prosecution was given as an adjunct to the central district prosecutor’s office.
In addition, the case of the complaint of a perjury teacher is expected to grow controversy over the dividend of the case as to how researcher Lim will take over and maintain prosecution and prosecution in a situation where the 3rd supervisory prosecutor Huh Jeong-soo is currently in charge. This is because Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol has the dividend right in this case.
Article 7-2 of the Prosecutors’ Office Act stipulates that the prosecutor general, the prosecutor at each level, and the head of the branch can handle the duties of their own prosecutors or allow other prosecutors to handle the duties of the prosecutor’s office, stipulating that the head of the investigative agency has the right to divide.
An official from the legal profession said, “Because the inspectors in any organization exercise enormous powers, fairness and injustice that anyone inside can understand must be acknowledged. It is questionable whether researcher Im is such a person.”
Reporter Minjoong Kim [email protected]
