A South Korean court has created turmoil on the left by issuing a preliminary injunction against the disciplinary commmittee's judgement that Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol, violated his professional duties by improperly investigating judges and failing to the maintain political independence of his office. Other specifications charging his interference in cases where he, his family or subordinates had an interest, and therefore a professional conflict of interest were not addressed by the disciplinary committee. Yoon's petition for a injunction was grounded on a contention that he could not be suspended or removed from office by this disciplinary procedure because the Prosecutor General's office was intended to be independent of outside political interference as a constitutional matter. So it appears that the Prosecutor General's office is now some kind of "fourth branch" of government in Yoon's view. Before the injunction was issued many legal scholars regarded the petition for injunction as unlikely to succeed, particularly because Yoon was only temporarily suspended from office for a short period, two months, and was not barred from reassuming his position as Prosecutor General. Some democratic representatives in the National Assembly and Justice Party representatives are now calling for Yoon's impeachment. Justice Minister Chu Mi-ae, who initiated the disciplinary proceeding, nominally Yoon's superior, is also calling for his impeachment.
Some of the ruling Democratic Party in the National Assembly (174 seats) are calling for the impeachment of Yoon Seok-yeol. Democratic Party leaders however are calling for adherence to the legislative plan to reform the criminal justice process and the offices of prosecutors and judges by implementing the Public Office Corruption Committee, and the separation of investigative and prosecution decisions in law enforcement. The fear is that judges would not confirm a bill of impeachment and that the democratic administration would end in a fiasco. The leaders also wish to stay focused on the worsening pandemic situation in South Korea.
Chu Mi-ae, the Justice Minister. tendered an offer to resign to President Moon Jae-in when the weak two month suspension decision against Yoon for professional misconduct came down from the disciplinary committee. Clearly, the administration was anticipating a stronger disposition such as dismissal from office. The disciplinary committee's determination suggests a compromise verdict acknowledging Yoon's professional misconduct but unwilling to take on the so called "cartel of special interests" dominating the prosecutorial and judicial branches. The committee left it to the courts to take on the so called "Yoon division," within prosecution offices, along with the media and chaebol interests on the right, supporting Yoon. Consequently, Yoon has returned to work and will continue his attack on the democratic administration by implementing new politically motivated investigations and prosecutions in the hope of toppling Moon Jae-in from power, and tarnishing any significant rival potentially running against him during the next presidential election.
Yoon has stated he is not by any means inclined to resign before the last day of his term of office as Prosecutor General in July 2021. His attorneys in the pending court litigation over the substance of the diciplinary decision said they would try to have it decided on the merits within four months. The timing is interesting because newly proposed legislation creating a cooling off period for judges and prosecutors of one year before they can run for office has been introduced in the legislature. So this would mean Yoon would have to resign by April, in order to run as the conservatives candidate for president in April 2022 if the law becomes effective. Also, Yoon's office intends to continue investigate and prosecute cases in which he has a conflict of interest, such as the Optimus and Lime Fund scandals. He also stated he will prosecute a politically motivated case challenging an agency decision to close a nuclear power facility as an abuse of power within the Moon administration. Supporters of the Moon government regard the nuclear power regulatoy decision as a discretionary function with no outward signs of impropriety, being used as part of a continuing course of conduct by Yoon to topple the democratic administration and in the interim to hamper its abilities to implement criminal justice reforms.
An article in Donga Ilbo, a conservative media source, loyal to Yoon, has alluded to Yoon's apparent "appreciation" for the judicial community's "unbiased decisions" despite Yoon's earlier work removing the Chief of the Supreme Court, Yang Seung-tae, for abuse of power related to former president Park Geun-hye's impeachment scandal.* It is equally as likely that judges and justices are intimidated by Yoon who has the backing of some of the most powerful chaebol leaders in South Korea, who themselves have been protected by Yoon's office from prosecution for various illegal acts and scandals. Among these are CEOs from the leading media cartels and industry. So the observation could also be construed a veiled threat, prominently displayed before the affair is concluded.
*윤 총장은 서울중앙지검장 시절 양승태 전 대법원장 등 고위 법관들이 연루된 이른바 사법행정권 남용 의혹 수사를 직접 지휘했는데도 법원이 집행정치 사건에서 두 차례나 선입견없이 판단을 해준 것을 놓고 주변에 사법부에 대한 고마움을 표시했다고 한다. 윤석열 “내년 7월 임기때까지 물러날 생각 없어”…소송 준비 만전; https://www.donga.com/news/Society/article/all/20201227/104653420/1
The trial of former Justice Minister Cho Guk and his family in the courts by Yoon's office is one of several examples of cases initiated and manipulated for political reasons in ways that are outside the scope of normal investigative and judicial processes. For example, Cho Guk's wife was indicted shortly after he was appointed Justice Minister with a mandate to reform the prosecution of political figures and senior government officials in South Korea to eliminate documented prior prosecutorial abuses. For this political reason both he and his wife were indicted. His wife, Chung Kyung-shim, a college professor with a serious disability, was jailed pending trial for six months. She was found innocent of four charges against her in the initial indictment filed in September 2019, which was issued without a formal prior investigation. Then last December after months of litigation, when she was found not guilty, the prosecution submitted a second indictment, based upon many of the same operative material facts. The protracted "first trial" ended last week with Professor Chung Kyung-shim found guilty last week of eleven charges in the "second indictment" in a stunning reversal. The case was manipulated at the whim of the prosecution as the defense raised effective defenses as to the state's case. The only bump in the road was the release of Chung from jail pending trial after six months when the court felt pre-trial confinement could no longer be justified. She is now again in confinement after the sentence of four years announced last week. One doesn't need to speculate much on what sort of pressures Yoon's office can bring to bear on judges who don't rule in the manner desired. The principal charge in Yoon's disciplinary proceeding was based on evidence he condoned unauthorized and unwarranted investigations into the backgrounds and personal and financial circumstances of sitting South Korean judges. Observers noted a similar practice during the dictatorship period of South Korean history.
It isn't a leap to view these developments as a prelude to a dictatorial rule by Yoon Seok-yeol in the not too distant future. But for the covid pandemic and the public health restrictions on political assemblies, hundreds of thousands of democratic supporters would be in the streets every weekend demanding Yoon's impeachment. The failure, thus far, to achieve or even recognize a legal limit on Yoon's power or the systemic social and political corruption it represents bodes ill for the future of the South Korean government. It is clearly headed down an authoritarian right wing path. Nevertheless, South Korean establishment right wing media cartels insist in an Orwellian twist, that these developments represent a warranted judicial response to democratic President Moon Jae-in's "despotism."
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