Court Cancels Transfer of Prosecutor General Jung Joo-mee After Criticism Over Daejang-dong Appeal Withdrawal

"Ministry of Justice Abused Its Personnel Authority"

The court has ruled that the Ministry of Justice must revoke its personnel decision that effectively demoted Prosecutor General Joo-mee Jung to a lower-ranking post at the level of division chief or deputy chief.

Prosecutor General Yumi Jung. Photo by Yonhap News

On June 11, the Administrative Division 5 of the Seoul Administrative Court (Presiding Judge Lee Jeongwon) ruled in favor of Joo-mee Jung, who filed a lawsuit against the Minister of Justice to cancel the personnel order. The court ordered the cancellation of the appointment that transferred Jung from the Chief Prosecutor of the Changwon District Prosecutors' Office to the Daejeon High Prosecutors' Office on December 11 of last year, and ordered the defendant to bear the litigation costs.

The court stated, "Only a few months after being transferred from Chief Prosecutor of the Changwon District Prosecutors' Office to a research fellow at the Legal Research and Training Institute, she was reassigned again. Under the circumstances, the defendant's intention appears to have been to induce her voluntary resignation." The court added, "Since the measure in question is essentially disadvantageous, transferring her to a lower post without prior notice, an opportunity for explanation, or a legitimate disciplinary procedure constitutes a de facto circumvention of the prosecutor disciplinary process as stipulated in the Administrative Procedures Act."

The court also partially acknowledged the nonexistence of the 'reason for the measure,' which was one of the main grounds for the personnel action. The defendant had argued that Jung was transferred mainly due to suspicions that she inadequately investigated the 'Myung Tae-gyun nomination interference case' during her tenure as Chief Prosecutor of the Changwon District Prosecutors' Office, and that she had been booked as a suspect as a result.

However, the court pointed out, "A personnel measure that disadvantages an employee must be based on a substantial portion of the wrongdoing being confirmed as objective fact. Merely having suspicions or criminal allegations is not sufficient to justify such disadvantage."

Nonetheless, the court did not accept some of the legal arguments made by Jung. It held that under the Prosecutors' Office Act, prosecutors are only classified as the Prosecutor General and prosecutors, so the personnel action in question cannot legally be considered a 'demotion' as a disciplinary measure. The court also dismissed claims regarding the violation of the scope of appointments for prosecutors at the level of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and the lack of deliberation or resolution by the Prosecutorial Personnel Committee.

Previously, Jung had criticized the breakdown of principles and systems in prosecution personnel management following the appointment of Justice Minister Sung-ho Jeong, claiming that her transfer was retaliatory for her public criticism of the decision not to appeal the Daejang-dong development corruption case.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.