Photo: Yoon Suk-yeol (left) and Han Dong-hun (right). Credit: Yonhap.
The Public Prosecutors’ Office 검찰청 raided former Moon administration officials while dropping charges against President Yoon Suk-yeol 윤석열 대통령. On May 19, the District Prosecutors’ Office for the Eastern District of Seoul 서울동부지방검찰청 raided the home and former workplaces of Baek Un-gyu 백운규, former Industry Minister 산업통상자원부 under the Moon administration. The PPO claims it is investigating Baek for pressuring the politically appointed heads of publicly owned corporations with unfinished terms to resign upon Moon taking office in 2017 - a tendentious charge, considering Yoon’s transition committee was openly demanding Moon’s political appointees to resign just months ago.
Meanwhile, the PPO declined to prosecute six criminal complaints that were pending against Yoon. The court had already established the foundation for at least one of the complaints, which alleged Yoon obstructed the Justice Ministry 법무부’s internal investigation of Han Dong-hun 한동훈 (who is now Yoon’s Justice Minister), who was being investigated for colluding with conservative politicians and civic groups to fabricate criminal charges against liberal politicians. (See previous coverage, “PPO Colluded with Conservatives.”) Despite the October 2021 court decision that held the Justice Ministry was amply justified to suspend Yoon for obstruction of an internal investigation, the PPO declined to further prosecute Yoon on the matter. (See previous coverage, “Court Upholds Yoon’s Suspension.”)
