Justice Minister Seeks Disciplinary Action Against Prosecutors for Courtroom Walkout

SEOUL, Aug. 14 (Yonhap) -- Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho has requested disciplinary action against two prosecutors who stormed out of a high-profile perjury trial in protest of allegedly unfair court proceedings last year, the ministry said Friday. The move follows an internal inspection into four prosecutors of the Suwon District Prosecutors Office who abruptly left a pretrial hearing after the court rejected their request to call witnesses in November 2025. Before exiting, the team filed a motion to disqualify the bench over alleged unfair proceedings. Two of the prosecutors have since resigned and received ministerial warnings, while disciplinary proceedings will continue for the remaining two, the ministry said. The walkout occurred during the trial of Lee Hwa-young, a former vice governor of Gyeonggi Province. Lee was sentenced to four months in prison for giving false testimony to parliament in 2024 that prosecutors offered him and a businessman food and alcohol during interrogations. Lee claimed the prosecutors used the treatment to coerce false statements incriminating current President Lee Jae Myung, who was Gyeonggi governor at the time of an alleged 2019 illegal remittance to North Korea. Following the courtroom walkout, President Lee ordered a strict investigation into the prosecutors. While an inspection committee of the Supreme Prosecutors Office concluded in April that disciplinary action would be difficult, the justice ministry moved forward with its own request based on internal findings. The final sanctions will be determined by the ministry's disciplinary committee, chaired by Jung.