Prosecutor Seo Ji-hyun (49, 33rd Class of the Judicial Research & Training Institute), who launched the #MeToo campaign exposing the sexual violence in South Korean society, submitted a letter of resignation on May 16. Experts claim that the government is “trimming away” prosecutors appointed to key positions by the Moon Jae-in government before the nominee Han Dong-hoon, one of President Yoon Suk-yeol’s closest acquaintances, is appointed justice minister.

Around 4 p.m. this day, shortly before the end of office hours, the Ministry of Justice Inspection Bureau notified Seo Ji-hyun, head of the task force (TF) on digital sex crimes at the justice ministry, “to return to the Prosecution Service at the Seongnam branch of the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office on May 17.” Seo submitted her resignation to Park Eun-jeong, chief of the Seongnam branch of the Prosecutors’ Office immediately after receiving the notice.

In January 2018, Seo Ji-hyun disclosed to the press that she was sexually assaulted by Ahn Tae-geun, a former head prosecutor, triggering a #MeToo campaign in the South Korean society. In May 2020, Choo Mi-ae, the justice minister at the time, appointed Seo, who was working as an assistant chief prosecutor at the Seongnam branch of the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office, as a special advisor for policies on gender equality at the justice ministry. Last July, Seo was then transferred to lead the digital sex crime TF and until last month recommended improvements to systems in connection to sex crimes on eleven occasions. The singer HA:TFELT (Park Ye-eun), movie director Byun Young-joo and Team Flameand ReSET, which tracked down and reported Telegram chatrooms exploiting sex, were among those on the task force’s expert panel.

This day, Seo wrote on her Facebook account, “Many thoughts came up after I received a notice to return on my way to a committee meeting at 4 p.m., but I submitted my resignation because it was clear what such a short and insulting return notice, which did not even give me time to pack, meant.” She further wrote, “It was expected, and since for four years even in the previous government, I had never been properly evaluated--remaining an assistant chief prosecutor without any formal transfers--and had constantly received plain requests to leave and was defenseless before insane backbiting and secondary victimization, I am not so sorry.”

She also said, “Since we could properly punish perpetrators and protect victims only when we established laws and institutions, the moments of humiliation and silence I endured with the desperate desire to create comprehensive measures against sex crimes before I left no matter what passed by, but since we were able to create the first version of the comprehensive measures with the help of many people, I feel it is fortunate that I could end at least this much closer to justice, which I so desperately wanted as a prosecutor of the Republic of Korea, but could not establish in the Prosecution Service and in the courtroom.”

Seo wrote, “Eighteen years as a prosecutor... four years since #MeToo... Seeing how my heart is relieved, I had wanted to seem dauntless, but I guess it wasn’t easy,” and ended her post with a simple thank you.

This day, the justice ministry announced its position and said, “We had decided on an end to the dispatch of some prosecutors and notified them to return to the Prosecutors’ Office.” The ministry explained, “The latest decision was made after comprehensively reviewing the need to maintain such dispatch services, the period the prosecutors were dispatched, and the workload of frontline prosecutors.”

Lim Eun-jeong (48, 30th Class of the Judicial Research & Training Institute), another prosecutor appointed to a key position by the Moon Jae-in government, is also under pressure to resign. The Justice Ministry Inspection Bureau recently put Lim up for an in-depth qualification review for low performance and requested the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office for a special audit. In December 2012, Lim was in charge of the retrial of the late Yun Jung-gil, the secretary of the Progressive Party. She refused to follow orders from higher up in the Prosecution Service to submit a blank form when requesting the sentence of the defendant and submitted a form requesting that the defendant be acquitted. She was suspended for four months due to this incident and since then has publicly criticized the investigations and practices inside the Prosecution Service.

The Moon Jae-in government appointed Lim as an inspection policy researcher at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office. Later, Lim, along with Han Dong-soo, the director of inspection at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, raised allegations that President Yoon, who was the prosecutor general at the time, tried to interrupt the investigation into allegations that prosecutors instigated witnesses to testify against former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook. Criminal Division 2 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office (chief prosecutor Bak Hyeon-cheol) investigated a report against Lim claiming that she leaked confidential information related to official duties and transferred the case to the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials on May 6 claiming that the charge held.

The justice ministry’s notice for Seo Ji-hyun to return to her original position in the Prosecutors’ Office and the special audit of Lim are seen as a warning that “Han Dong-hoon’s justice ministry” will remove a large number of prosecutors that stand in line with the Moon Jae-in government. When justice minister nominee Han submitted his answers to questions from lawmakers, he answered the question by Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kim Yong-min, “What are your thoughts on prosecutors Lim Eun-jeong and Seo Ji-hyun, who engaged in the #MeToo campaign?” and wrote, “I think they contributed by recalling the need to improve the workplace sex culture in the Prosecution Service.”

Lim appeared as a witness at the confirmation hearing on May 9-10 and argued, “A Yoon Suk-yeol division (including the nominee Han) exists inside the Prosecution Service.” When independent lawmaker Min Hyung-bae asked, “Even incumbent prosecutors say that (Han Dong-hoon is a political prosecutor),” Han refuted, “Those prosecutors are Lim Eun-jeong and Han Dong-soo.”