Prosecutor General who used to be ‘pro-Yoon’ leaves office as ‘anti-Yoon’

Prosecutor General Lee Won-seok shakes hands with a reporter at the Supreme Prosecutors\' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on September 12, a day before his retirement. Reporter Cho Tae-hyung

Prosecutor General Lee Won-seok will leave office on September 13 after failing to wrap up the case of First Lady Kim Keon-hee. He is stepping down after failing to close politically high-profile cases, including Kim's case and the case against former President Moon Jae-in. Lee wanted to close major investigations during his term, but it is said that the investigations were conducted slowly due to his discreet personality.

Lee was appointed deputy chief prosecutor of the Supreme Prosecutors‘ Office shortly after President Yoon Suk-yeol’s inauguration in May 2022 and served as acting Prosecutor General before being appointed as Prosecutor General in September.

Lee was called a "pro-Yoon" figure in the early days of his inauguration. It was said that Yoon sought advice from Lee when he was a prosecutor.

When he was a special prosecutor at the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office in 2007, he was dispatched to the Special Investigation Headquarters, which investigated allegations of slush funds and lobbying by Samsung Group, and worked with Yoon, who was a prosecutorial researcher at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office. When Yoon worked as the prosecutor general in 2019, Lee was promoted to the head of the planning and coordination department of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and worked closely with Yoon.

During his two years in office as the prosecutor general, Lee was said to have become more of an “anti-Yoon” figure. The investigation into the first lady‘s alleged acceptance of a luxury bag was a turning point. “I said there are no exceptions, no preferential treatment, no sanctuary, but these principles were not followed in the investigation of the first lady,” Lee criticized in July, shortly after it became known that the investigation team had interviewed Kim at a third location outside the prosecutor‘s office. “I heard that the president also said it was unwise behavior,” Lee said regarding Kim’s acceptance of a luxury bag on September 9.

Lee, who risked being labeled “anti-Yoon,” showed a willingness to investigate Kim‘s case, but ultimately left empty-handed. The prosecution plans to dispose of Kim’s case after reviewing the results of the Investigation Review Committee‘s investigation into Pastor Choi Jae-young, who allegedly handed Kim a luxury bag. There is criticism within the prosecution, saying, “The case should have been disposed of within Lee’s term, but the investigation was conducted too slowly.” "There are many cases that Lee has been so cautious that he has not been able to speed up the investigations,” a prosecution official said. “It is true that the handling of other politically sensitive cases, such as former President Moon Jae-in's case and the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea Lee Jae-myung's alleged preferential treatment for a hotel in Jeongja-dong, has been delayed."

Lee receives positive reviews in terms of policy. He strived to rehabilitate victims who were unfairly punished through emergency appeals and retrials. For the first time, prosecutors requested a large-scale ex officio review of the abducted fishermen espionage case. He also paid more attention to policies for women than his predecessors.

The major cases that Lee failed to conclude were left to his successor. President Yoon approved the appointment of Lee’s successor, Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung, on the 12th.

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.