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Senior prosecutor offers to resign in protest over decision not to appeal in corruption case linked to president

Published: 08 Nov. 2025, 13:59

Jung Jin-woo, the head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, speaks during a plenary session of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee at the National Assembly in Seoul, in this file photo taken Oct. 23. [YONHAP]

Jung Jin-woo, the head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, offered to resign Saturday, the office said, a day after prosecutors decided not to appeal a ruling in a high-profile development scandal case.

His offer came just four months after taking office, in what is seen as a protest against the prosecution's decision not to file an appeal, reportedly in line with the Justice Ministry's opinion that the case did not warrant one.

Last Friday, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced five figures to prison in connection with the development corruption scandal linked to President Lee Jae Myung, stemming from his tenure as the mayor of Seongnam, a city south of Seoul.

Those convicted included Yoo Dong-gyu, former acting president of Seongnam Development Corporation, and Kim Man-bae, major shareholder of asset management firm Hwacheon Daeyu, as well as two lawyers and an accountant.

The scandal centers on allegations that a small number of little-known private asset management companies, including Hwacheon Daeyu, were allowed to reap astronomical investment profits from the real estate development project in Seongnam's Daejang-dong district in 2015, when Lee was the city's mayor.

Lee separately stood trial on charges of inflicting losses to Seongnam Development Corporation, but the court indefinitely postponed his trial after his victory in the presidential election in June.

Earlier in the day, Kang Baek-shin, one of the prosecutors involved in the case, wrote in an internal bulletin that he had been waiting to file the appeal but was informed by senior leadership just hours before the seven-day deadline expired on Friday that the decision had been made not to proceed.

Under the Criminal Procedure Act, if prosecutors forgo an appeal, the sentences cannot be increased under the "prohibition of unfavorable changes." All five defendants have filed appeals.

YONHAP