Lee: “Greetings are greetings, investigations are investigations… I will fulfill my duties”,
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Lee Won-seok, chief prosecutor, is attending the Seoul Seocho-gu Public Prosecutor’s Office on the 14th and stating his position on the prosecutor appointments made by the Ministry of Justice the day before./Yonhap News,
, ‘Chief Prosecutor Lee Won-seok stated on the 14th, “No matter which prosecutor, they will investigate according to principles without any other considerations.” When asked if there was prior coordination regarding the prosecutor appointments announced by the Ministry of Justice the day before, he remained silent for a moment and then said, “I will not comment further.”’,
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, ‘On this day, Chief Prosecutor Lee met with reporters at the Seoul Seocho-gu Public Prosecutor’s Office and made these remarks. When asked by a reporter whether there was prior coordination regarding the Ministry of Justice’s prosecutor appointments, he began with, “The prosecutor appointments announced yesterday…” After about 7 seconds of silence, Chief Prosecutor Lee stated, “I will not comment further on this matter.”’,
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, ‘The Ministry of Justice announced a rare personnel change by replacing all the command-line prosecutors at the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office, where important cases are concentrated, and changing all of the chief prosecutor’s senior staff except one. The legal community responded with remarks that the timing and scale of the appointments were unprecedented.’,
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, ‘When journalists asked, “Was it unexpected in terms of the timing and scale of the prosecutor appointments?” and “How do you feel about the conflict rumors with the Blue House that have surfaced?” Chief Prosecutor Lee only replied, “I will not comment further on the appointments.”’,
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, ‘When the reporters expressed concerns about whether there were obstacles to the investigations into Kim Geun-hui’s (luxury bag suspicion, etc.), Chief Prosecutor Lee stated, “No matter which prosecutor, they will gather opinions with the investigation team and will conduct the investigation strictly based solely on evidence and legal principles without any other considerations. I trust our prosecutors and investigation teams.” He then added, “Greetings are greetings, investigations are investigations.”’,
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, ‘When asked, “Will you wrap up investigations before the end of your term (including Kim’s case)?” Chief Prosecutor Lee replied, “As the chief prosecutor, as a public official, I will fulfill the duties, responsibilities, and missions given to me. There is nothing beyond or below that.” He has about 4 months left in his term. Regarding future prosecutor personnel plans, he said, “It’s a matter I cannot know about.”’,
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