'Military Leave Favoritism Allegations' Choo Miae's Son Returns to Korea... Probe Resumes After Two Years
Case suspended in September 2024
Left the country while the investigation was underway
The Public Prosecution Office will resume its investigation, after more than two years, into allegations that Choo Mi-ae, governor of Gyeonggi Province, gave her son preferential treatment regarding leave during his military service.
The Seoul Eastern District Public Prosecution Office said on November 10 that it had confirmed Choo's son, identified by his surname Seo, had recently entered South Korea and had resumed the investigation into the case, which had been suspended. Resuming an investigation means restarting an inquiry that was put on hold, for example, after a suspension of prosecution.
Seo left South Korea in December 2023 while a reinvestigation was underway. In September 2024, prosecutors suspended the case against him and requested that authorities be notified when he entered the country and that he be barred from leaving.
According to the Public Prosecution Office, Seo took leave in 2017 while serving as a member of the Korean Augmentation to the United States Army (KATUSA), citing knee surgery. In 2019, the People Power Party raised allegations at a confirmation hearing for a candidate for justice minister that Seo had received preferential treatment by extending his leave without prior approval. The Liberty Korea Party, now the People Power Party, filed a criminal complaint against Seo and others in January 2020.
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The Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office, which investigated the allegations at the time, decided in September 2020 not to indict Choo and Seo, finding it difficult to conclude that there had been any abuse of authority or intimidation in the process of requesting and taking military leave. The People Power Party appealed the decision, but the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office also dismissed the appeal in June 2022. The investigation resumed after the Supreme Prosecutors' Office ordered the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office to reinvestigate the case in November of that year, during the Yoon Suk Yeol administration. However, it was suspended when Seo left the country in 2023.
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