Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae has wasted little time appointing a successor to a chief district prosecutor who resigned apparently to protest her intervention in the investigation into a massive fund fraud scandal.
Choo on Friday picked Lee Jung-soo, director of planning and coordination at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office(SPO), as the new head of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutor's Office, a day after the position was vacated by Park Soon-cheol.
Choo instructed Lee to swiftly and thoroughly carry out pending investigations, including those regarding Lime Asset Management, and not be swayed by the ministry, the SPO and politicians.
On Monday, the minister, who was a former head of the ruling Democratic Party, exercised her authority to command an investigation into the alleged involvement of former and incumbent prosecutors in the Lime fund case, effectively removing from the probe Prosecutor-General Yoon Seok-youl, whom she criticized for being partial and slow regarding the investigation.
Kim Bong-hyun, a prime suspect in the fraud case, claimed that he told the prosecution that he lobbied prosecutors and opposition politicians, but the prosecution did not listen.
Park, who was overseeing the investigation, resigned on Thursday, after saying in an online post that politics have “buried the prosecution.”