Two prosecutors overseeing Suwon District Court walkout avoid formal discipline

[Financial News] Two prosecutors responsible for supervising the prosecutors who walked out en masse during the trial in the perjury case involving Lee Hwa-young, former Gyeonggi Province vice governor for peace affairs, have avoided formal discipline. Although President Lee Jae-myung had ordered a rigorous inspection into the matter, neither ultimately received disciplinary action.
According to the Ministry of Justice on the 27th, the Prosecutors’ Disciplinary Committee ruled on the 21st in connection with the Suwon District Court mass walkout case to issue Kim Hyun-woo, former head of the Criminal Division 6 at the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office, a warning without formal disciplinary effect, and to clear prosecutor Seo Hyun-uk of disciplinary charges. The ministry said of Kim, “Although the misconduct was found to constitute grounds for discipline, the committee decided to issue a warning without formal disciplinary effect because his commendation record, among other things, was accepted as a mitigating factor.” It explained its decision on Seo: “Taking into account the decision-making process concerning the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office’s exercise of its right to seek recusal, as well as the extent of his involvement, we concluded that it would be difficult to find grounds for discipline.”
A warning without formal disciplinary effect is issued when grounds for discipline are recognized but actual disciplinary action is deemed unnecessary. Because it does not constitute formal discipline under the Prosecutors Disciplinary Act, neither prosecutor will have a disciplinary record.
The controversy arose at a pretrial hearing on November 25 last year at the Suwon District Court’s Criminal Division 11 in the case against former vice governor Lee on charges including violating the Act on Testimony and Appraisal before the National Assembly. The presiding judge said witness examinations had to be minimized for the case to proceed as a citizen-participation trial and accepted only six of the 64 witnesses requested by the prosecution. In response, four trial prosecutors, including Kim, said they could not comply with what they viewed as unfair management of the proceedings, announced their intention to seek the panel’s recusal, and left the courtroom.
The following day, President Lee expressed concern and regret over the mass walkout and ordered that “swift and rigorous inspections and investigations be conducted, in accordance with law and principle, into acts that undermine order in the courtroom.” However, the Inspection Committee of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office of the Republic of Korea (SPO) concluded last April that it would be difficult to discipline the prosecutors. After conducting a separate inspection, the Ministry of Justice sought reprimands for the two senior prosecutors last August, but that decision was overturned at the disciplinary panel stage.
The grounds for discipline concerned reporting obligations and the choice of procedure. Kim was accused of violating his duty to report in advance his plan to seek the panel’s recusal and of failing to apply for referral to ordinary proceedings, which would have converted the citizen-participation trial into a regular trial. In Seo’s case, the issue was that he had proposed that the trial prosecutors seek the panel’s recusal instead of applying for referral to ordinary proceedings.
Both prosecutors have maintained that they could not accept the grounds for discipline. Kim argued that the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office had reported the recusal plan and its progress to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office of the Republic of Korea in advance, and that he had also made an oral application for referral to ordinary proceedings at the pretrial hearing. Seo objected on the grounds that it was unfair to discipline him solely for expressing an opinion.
Disciplinary cases involving prosecutors are reviewed by the Prosecutors’ Disciplinary Committee following a request by the Minister of Justice or the Prosecutor General, and are decided by a majority vote of the members present. Kim Hyun-ah, former first deputy chief prosecutor at the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office, and Lee Seong-beom, former second deputy chief prosecutor, who were in the reporting and supervisory chain at the time, had previously received warnings from the minister. 


[email protected] Kim Dong-kyu Reporter