Chief Prosecutor Kim Hyung-seok, Who Opposed Dropping Daejang-dong Appeal, Also Resigns: "An Extremely Bitter Time"

[The Financial News] Chief Prosecutor Kim Hyung-seok, head of the Narcotics and Organized Crime Department of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office (SPO) and a 32nd class graduate of the Judicial Research and Training Institute, who had demanded an explanation and a decision from then Acting Prosecutor General Noh Man-seok during the controversy over the decision to drop the appeal in the Daejang-dong development scandal case, tendered his resignation on the 23rd.
His move came just one day after the Ministry of Justice announced a personnel reshuffle that would transfer Kim, effective on the 27th, to a position as a research fellow at the Legal Research and Training Institute.
Around 9 a.m. that day, Kim posted a message titled "Farewell upon resignation" on Epros, the prosecution’s internal bulletin board, declaring his intention to leave the service. He wrote, "It is now time to bring this to a close," adding, "I looked back to see whether I should be ashamed of the past 23 years, and I have come to think that I should not."
He went on to say, "Although this is an extremely bitter and difficult time, I choose to believe that the day will surely come when the public understands and accepts that the voices of members of the prosecution are not selfish ambition, but the sincere convictions born of their own experience."
Kim has been known as a key figure who, after the decision not to appeal in the Daejang-dong development scandal last November, directly urged then Acting Prosecutor General Noh Man-seok to explain the circumstances and step down, after the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office was instructed to forgo the appeal. Many senior aides at the SPO who raised concerns alongside Kim were reassigned to less influential posts such as research fellows at the Legal Research and Training Institute in the high-level reshuffle of senior prosecutors announced on the 22nd.
A significant number of front-line chief prosecutors who had issued a joint statement were also moved to sidelined posts, and among them, Park Young-bin, head of the Incheon District Prosecutors’ Office, offered his resignation immediately after the reshuffle was announced.
Kim graduated from Gaepo High School in Seoul and the Department of Judicial Studies at Seoul National University, and began his career as a prosecutor in February 2003 at Criminal Division 2 of the Daegu District Prosecutors’ Office. He later served at the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office, the Changwon District Prosecutors’ Office, and the General Affairs Department and Special Investigation Division 4 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, before being promoted in 2017 to deputy chief prosecutor at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office and in 2019 to head of the Special Investigation Department at the Daejeon District Prosecutors’ Office.
He subsequently headed Criminal Division 8 and Criminal Division 7 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office and served as Inspector General of the Ministry of Justice. In July last year, after the current administration took office, he was promoted to chief prosecutor and appointed head of the Narcotics and Organized Crime Department of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office. However, following the controversy over dropping the Daejang-dong appeal, he was reassigned to the Legal Research and Training Institute in just six months, and has now ultimately decided to leave the prosecution.
scottchoi15@fnnews.com Choi Eun-sol Reporter