'Seongnam Connection' protests against Lee Yong-cheol's nomination as Minister of Justice, saying "appointment is for cancellation of indictment"

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporters Lee Seung-yeon, Choi Yun-seon, and Choi Won-jeong = When the Blue House nominated Lee Yong-cheol (66), head of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, as a candidate for Minister of Justice, voices of concern arose among prosecutors within the Public Prosecution Office.

While there are doubts that candidate Lee, who is known as President Lee's closest confidant, can carry out the cancellation of the indictment, it is also unclear whether a non-prosecutor background person will be able to stabilize the organization of the Public Prosecution Office.

A senior prosecutor working at the local public prosecution office, who heard the news of Lee Yong-cheol's nomination on the 6th, was disappointed and said, "It's Seongnam's fate after all."

He said, “(President Lee) seems to have decided that he had no choice but to use someone who has shared interests with him for a long time,” and added, “The idea that he should appoint someone he can trust as a minister has been blatantly revealed.”

Another chief prosecutor of the Public Prosecution Office in the metropolitan area also said, “He is not a prosecutor and has no known inclinations, but I know that he is a person who is classified as President Lee’s Seongnam line.”

Candidate Lee has worked at the law firm that President Lee Jae-myung previously belonged to since 2006, and has a close relationship with President Lee, including participating in the transition committee after he was elected mayor of Seongnam in 2010.

Candidate Lee Yong-cheol also served as CEO of the Seongnam Industrial Promotion Foundation when President Lee Jae-myung was mayor of Seongnam.

Public Prosecutors' Office prosecutors all expressed concern that candidate Lee could pave the way for the cancellation of President Lee's indictment, as they had a long relationship and shared ideas.

The Minister of Justice has command over the Prosecutor General and is a key position that makes the cancellation of indictments possible.

A chief prosecutor said, “In order to cancel the indictment, you have to be on the same page and on the same page.” He added, “It seems like they’ve appointed that kind of person.”

A front-line prosecutor at the local public prosecution office also said, "He is the first Minister of Justice since the abolition of the Public Prosecutor's Office, and it seems intentional that he chose a non-prosecutor."

He continued, “If we were to appoint a former prosecutor ahead of the task of canceling the indictment, we would face conflict in every situation, so it would not have been possible.”

As confusion continues due to the reorganization of the criminal justice system, candidate Lee is given the task of taking the helm as head of the Ministry of Justice and stabilizing the organization.

However, many responded that they doubted whether candidate Lee, who has no work history as a prosecutor, could achieve this.

It is predicted that candidate Lee Yong-cheol's recent career has focused on national defense work such as the DAPA, making it difficult for him to be familiar with the internal circumstances of the Public Prosecution Service, making it difficult for him to carry out numerous tasks such as reorganizing the internal structure and preparing subordinate laws.

A front-line prosecutor at the Public Prosecution Office said, “He is the head of a large organization like the Ministry of Justice, but I think they appointed someone who knows very little.”

Another chief prosecutor also said, “(When candidate Lee was a lawyer), he had almost no experience with criminal cases, so he would not have been skilled,” and added, “(The Blue House) does not seem to be interested in legal administration at all.”

Candidate Lee Yong-cheol entered the legal profession as a lawyer after completing the 21st Judicial Research and Training Institute, and served as the second secretary for civil affairs and the presidential secretary for legal affairs under the Roh Moo-hyun administration.

He also served as public relations secretary and chair of the Economic Justice Committee for the Lawyers for a Democratic Society, a progressive lawyer's group.

Some say that in a situation where the Prosecutor's Office was abolished after 78 years due to the revision of the Criminal Procedure Act, 'no matter who comes, nothing good can be said'.