Complaint Filed Against Lead Special Prosecutor

Leading opposition politician files formal complaint as public outcry grows over powers of Lee Jae-myung administration’s special prosecutors

See also SKorean Court’s Sharp Criticism of Prosecutors

See also In Tiny Solitary Cell: Irreversible Harm Caused

See also HQ Statement on Mother Han’s Court Appearance

See also Mother Han’s December Trial: Long Detention Ahead

See also Mother Han Briefly Released for Medical Reasons

Strong reactions are mounting against the extensive powers granted by the Lee Jae-myung (이재명) administration to its team of special prosecutors. The coercive investigation methods employed by Chief Special Prosecutor Min Jung-ki (민중기) and his large staff of prosecutors and legal assistants have already drawn international criticism.

Their extensive powers include keeping 82-year-old Hak Ja Han (한학자), also known as Mother Han, in a tiny cold and damp detention cell while she is recovering from a heart operation and suffers from multiple health problems. She has already been held for 35 days under inhuman conditions.

The main opposition party, the People Power Party (PPP), is certainly reacting. Five-term National Assembly member Cho Bae-sook (조배숙) and Attorney Park Kyung-ho (박경호) filed on 22^nd October a complaint at the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office against Special Prosecutor Min Jung-ki for abuse of power and Capital Markets Act violations.

Cho Bae-sook is one of the country’s pioneering female legal professionals. It’s not the first time she has stepped to the forefront of legal and ethical controversy. A former prosecutor, judge, and lawyer, Cho currently serves in the People Power Party, where she is known for her sharp legal insight, conservative values, and commitment to the integrity of the justice system. Educated at Seoul National University’s Faculty of Law, Cho built her career across nearly every branch of Korea’s legal world before entering politics.

On 22^nd October, she released a powerful statement on Facebook following the People Power Party’s formal complaint against Special Prosecutor Min Jung-ki and his investigative team – a post that has quickly spread across social media and reignited public debate about judicial ethics, prosecutorial conduct, and accountability at the highest levels of law enforcement.

In her statement, titled “Min Jung-ki, the Special Prosecutor Who Speaks of Justice with Dirty Hands While Hiding Behind the Statute of Limitations – Resign Immediately,” Cho opened with the announcement that she and other party members had submitted an official complaint to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office. The complaint accuses Min Jung-ki and members of his special investigation team of coercive interrogation practices and human rights violations during their handling of the Yangpyeong Gongheung District development case – an investigation that, according to Cho, culminated in the suicide of defendant Jeong Hee-cheol (정희철), a local township chief.

Cho’s post goes beyond the immediate tragedy of the Gongheung case to paint a picture of what she calls a pattern of unethical behavior by Min stretching back more than a decade. She accuses him of past financial misconduct dating to his tenure as a high court judge, particularly involving insider trading and concealed profits from the NeoSemitech solar energy scandal of 2010.

According to Cho, Min disclosed ownership of 10,000 unlisted shares in NeoSemitech in 2008, when he served as a senior judge. The company later went public through a backdoor listing in October 2009, but within months, accounting fraud was exposed, its trading was suspended in March 2010, and the company was delisted that August. Cho claims Min had already sold his shares just before the trading suspension, profiting by about 150 million won (roughly USD 110,000). Even more telling, she writes, was that Oh Myung-hwan (오명환), the company’s CEO – and Min’s high-school and university classmate – made a much larger profit, selling his stock shortly before the suspension and allegedly earning 2.4 billion won (USD 1.8 million).

Cho challenges Min’s defense that he had simply invested “on the recommendation of an acquaintance unrelated to the company.” She stresses that Min has refused to identify this acquaintance, the securities firm, or the broker who allegedly advised him to sell the stock, nor has he disclosed the precise timing of the transaction. Such secrecy, Cho argues, undermines his credibility and strongly suggests the use of insider information, which would constitute a serious criminal offense.

The lawmaker’s post conveys a deep sense of public outrage among small investors who suffered losses in the NeoSemitech collapse. Many of them, she recounts, lost their savings and homes, with some reportedly driven to despair and suicide. “Countless small investors shed tears of blood and saw their families destroyed,” Cho quoted one victim as saying.

“And now we learn that the man at the center of it all is a special prosecutor? It’s beyond belief.”

Anticipating claims that any potential charges against Min are barred by the statute of limitations, Cho presents a detailed legal rebuttal. She cites the case of Oh Myung-hwan (오명환), NeoSemitech’s former CEO, who was indicted and eventually sentenced to 11 years in prison after fleeing abroad for four years before his arrest by Interpol in Vancouver in 2013. Citing Article 253 of the Criminal Procedure Act, Cho argues that the suspension of the statute of limitations for one accomplice applies to all accomplices. Given Oh’s extended flight and trial, she contends, the clock on Min’s own potential charges was stopped for at least seven years, meaning that the case remains open and prosecutable.

Beyond legal arguments, Cho’s post is a moral and philosophical indictment of what she sees as hypocrisy within the justice system. Drawing on the “Clean Hands Principle” – a doctrine stating that those who have acted unlawfully cannot invoke the law’s protection – she insists that a prosecutor implicated in ethical violations has no moral authority to administer justice. “If the head of the nation’s top investigative body has dirtied his own hands,” she writes, “he can no longer speak in the name of justice or investigate citizens in its name.”

Her conclusion is unequivocal: Min Jung-ki must resign immediately, and the special prosecution team should be dissolved. She calls on Min to “bow before the people,” to voluntarily appear before investigators, and to “confess his crimes in full.”

Cho’s post combines the sharpness of a legal brief with the fervor of a political manifesto. It reflects her dual identity as a jurist and lawmaker – one steeped in legal reasoning but animated by moral conviction. Her argument is not limited to Min’s alleged misconduct; it is also a broader critique of the erosion of public trust in the justice system. For Cho, accountability is not just about punishing wrongdoing but about preserving the moral authority of the law itself.

Her statement also positions the People Power Party as a defender of legal transparency and prosecutorial reform at a time when the political climate is deeply polarized. Whether her allegations lead to renewed investigation or disciplinary action remains uncertain. Yet, Cho Bae-sook’s intervention has already reignited debate over whether those entrusted with enforcing justice can ever be above it – and whether, as she warns, “those who have defiled the name of the law have any right to speak in its name.”

See also Health Concerns: 82-Year-Old Pretrial Detainee

Text: Knut Holdhus, editor

Featured image above: Portrait of Cho Bae-sook 7th September 2023. Photo: Goodnessman / Wikimedia Commons. Public domain image. Cropped

See also SKorean Court’s Sharp Criticism of Prosecutors

See also Detention: Harsh Cell Conditions Spark Outcry

See also In Tiny Solitary Cell: Irreversible Harm Caused

See also Court Decision to Prolong Detention Condemned

See also Co-Founder, 82, Questioned 9 Hours by Prosecutors

See also Democratic Party’s Assault on Family Federation

See also Mother Han (82) in Poor Health in Damp, Cold Cell

See also Korean Crisis: “True Democracy Must Serve Heaven”

See also Faith Leaders Protest State Assault on Religion

See also News Release Blasts Indictment of Hak Ja Han, 82

See also HQ Statement on Mother Han’s Court Appearance

Related to complaint filed against lead prosecutor: Denying Allegations: Hak Ja Han (82) in Inquiry

Also related to complaint filed against lead prosecutor: Ugly: Arrest Warrant Sought for Hak Ja Han (82)

And also related to complaint filed against lead prosecutor: Critics Warn of “Authoritarian Drift” in SKorea

More, related to complaint filed against lead prosecutor: 70 Years On: Detention History Repeats Itself

And more, related to complaint filed against lead prosecutor: Trump Raises Alarm Over Church Raids in Korea

Even more, related to complaint filed against lead prosecutor: Mike Pompeo Calls Probe of Co-Founder “Lawfare”

Still more, related to complaint filed against lead prosecutor:  Korean Faith Crackdown: USA Urged to Confront It

Yet more, related to complaint filed against lead prosecutor: Korean Bribery Scandal: Media Clears Federation

And also related to complaint filed against lead prosecutor: Raids Blur Line Between Justice and Politics

More, related to complaint filed against lead prosecutor: Heavy-Handed Raid on Sacred Sites Condemned

And more, related to complaint filed against lead prosecutor: Scholar Sounds Alarm: State Raiding the Sacred

Even more, related to complaint filed against lead prosecutor: Raids as Political Spectacle and Media Trials

And even more, related to complaint filed against lead prosecutor: Religious Freedom: 330 Faith Leaders Speak Up

Yet more, related to complaint filed against lead prosecutor: Yonhap: Repeated Allegations Create Public Bias

Still more, related to complaint filed against lead prosecutor: Japan Following the Way of China

And still more, related to complaint filed against lead prosecutor: Warning of Threat from CCP Fearing Korean Unity

And also related to complaint filed against lead prosecutor: Japan’s Dissolution Case Echoes China’s Playbook

Also related to complaint filed against lead prosecutor: Communists of China Exploiting Assassination

And also related to complaint filed against lead prosecutor: “Lawyers Lying and Shaming Japan” for 50 Years

More, related to complaint filed against lead prosecutor: Lawfare: State Uses Legal System in War on Faith