Prosecutor-General Yoon Seok-youl on Wednesday instructed the creation of an independent investigative unit to handle a controversial collusion case that involves a ranking prosecutor deemed close to the top prosecutor.  

Yoon’s order was made hours after Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae gave him 24 hours to respond to her demand to distance himself from the case and guarantee the ongoing investigation into the case by the Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office. 

Yoon instructed the new investigative body to include the current investigators and decided not to exercise his right to oversee the case. The prosecutor general will only be briefed on the developments of the respective investigation. 

Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office Chief Kim Young-dae has been tapped to lead the new apparatus. 

Last Thursday, Choo ordered Yoon not to make the case his business, sparking backlash among senior prosecutors amid heightened tensions over prosecutorial reforms.

Senior prosecutors convened a meeting to discuss the minister’s order and criticized it as being “illegal or unfair,” and insisted on the need to introduce an independent counsel to handle the investigation. 

Coming on the heels of an ongoing rift over the administration's campaign to reform the prosecution, the minister and the prosecutor-general have been on a collision course over the case of a Channel A reporter, who is accused of pressuring an inmate for a list of politicians his company purportedly lobbied. 

The reporter allegedly boasted of his ties with a ranking prosecutor close to the prosecutor general while seeking incriminating information on former Health Minister Rhyu Si-min, a retired progressive politician of the ruling camp.