Probe into Choo Mi-ae’s son resumes after his return to Korea in military-leave favoritism case... Choo’s side calls it an “exhumation probe” by an “insurrection regime”

[Financial News] The investigation into the son of Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae, who is suspected of receiving preferential treatment during his military service, has resumed after more than two years following the suspect’s return to Korea.

According to legal circles on the 10th, the Seoul Eastern District Prosecution Office (formerly the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office) confirmed that Seo, Governor Choo’s son, had entered the country on the 4th and reopened his case. The case had been suspended because he was overseas.
After Seo left the country, prosecutors had requested that he be flagged for notification upon entry and barred from leaving the country. The Prosecution Office accordingly imposed a travel ban on Seo immediately after his return and began reviewing the investigation. An official at the office said, “We resumed the investigation last week and are reviewing the case, but specific plans, including when to summon him, have not yet been decided.”

The case emerged in 2019 after the then-opposition Liberty Korea Party (now the People Power Party) first raised the allegations. The key allegation is that Seo took military sick leave for knee surgery, and that the date of his return was extended without prior approval under pressure from Choo’s side, with Choo then serving as leader of the Democratic Party of Korea.
In September 2020, the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office decided not to indict, saying, “There was no pressure or solicitation.” The opposition’s appeal was also rejected by the Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office in June 2022, but a reinvestigation began abruptly in November that year on orders from the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, during the tenure of former President Yoon Suk Yeol. The case was temporarily suspended the following year when Seo left the country.
The resumption of the investigation follows transitional measures in the amended Criminal Procedure Act and the Prosecution Office Act, which recently abolished prosecutors’ authority to conduct direct investigations. Although the Prosecutors’ Office was abolished on the 2nd of last month, the remaining investigation is expected to be carried out within the “up to 90-day” grace period granted only for cases in which continued investigation is unavoidable.

In response to news that the investigation had resumed, Governor Choo’s side expressed strong displeasure, saying the case had “already been resolved with no charges.”
An official from Governor Choo’s side vehemently condemned the move, saying, “This case is merely the shadow of an ‘exhumation probe’—an investigation that digs back into a case that has already ended—planned by the Yoon Suk Yeol insurrection regime, and the truth will not change.” The official went on to warn, “Those who planned this exhumation probe will never escape responsibility.”


[email protected] Park Ji-hyun Reporter