Prosecutor General Oh Dong-woon. Yonhap News

With a special prosecutor's summons for investigation looming on the 31st of this month, Oh Dong-woon, the Chief Prosecutor of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), who is embroiled in controversy over being abandoned by the Democratic Party, is now expected to target Lee Jae-myung.

Oh Dong-woon faced criticism early this year for allegedly fabricating investigative logic against then-incumbent President Yoon Suk-yeol, even employing tactics known as "warrant shopping," despite the CIO lacking jurisdiction over treason cases. At one point, he was branded as a "love child of the Democratic Party."

However, as the investigation into the alleged perjury by a former CIO prosecutor in the General Chae Sang-byeok special prosecutor case intensifies, focusing on Oh's alleged deliberate delay in handling the case, suspicions are rising that the CIO may be seeking a change in the political landscape by re-engaging in politically motivated investigations targeting the Daejang-dong case. Public opinion is strong that Lee Jae-myung is at the heart of the decision to abandon the appeal in the Daejang-dong case.

According to domestic media reports on the 17th, the CIO has been coordinating opinions with the police regarding the handover of the case involving the former acting Prosecutor General Noh Man-seok, who was reported to the authorities. Under current law, the police must transfer the case upon request from the CIO. Prosecutors are classified as high-ranking officials under the CIO Act and are subject to its investigation.

A Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency official stated at a regular press briefing on the same day, "We are in the process of inquiring with the CIO about whether additional transfers of other parties involved (those reported) are necessary." It appears that no official request has been made in the name of the CIO Chief Prosecutor. However, it is reported that the police sounded out the CIO, which has investigative jurisdiction under current law, and the CIO prosecutor conveyed to the police that the case could be taken up without a separate transfer request, based on Article 25, Paragraph 2 of the CIO Act.

Consequently, the scenario of the CIO taking over the case from the police and conducting the investigation remains unchanged. The police plan to transfer the case to the CIO in mid-month. The CIO Act mandates that if any investigative agency other than the CIO discovers evidence of a prosecutor's criminal suspicion, it must be transferred to the CIO.

The "Daejang-dong appeal abandonment" refers to allegations that the prosecution's decision to not appeal a ruling against individuals involved in the Daejang-dong development project, who were on trial for embezzlement of astronomical profits, prevented the recovery of vast criminal proceeds. There is a widespread public sentiment that the abandonment of the appeal in the Daejang-dong case, considered one of the largest fraud cases in Korean history, could constitute a serious act of official misconduct.

Previously, the Garo Sero Institute (GSI) and the People's Livelihood Countermeasures Committee (PLMCC) successively reported Lee Jae-myung, as well as Minister of Justice Jeong Seong-ho, Vice Minister Lee Jin-su, then-acting Prosecutor General Noh Man-seok, former Seoul Central District Prosecutor Jeong Jin-woo, and the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's Anti-Corruption Division Chief Park Cheol-woo to the police on charges of abuse of power on the 8th and 9th. Additionally, some other complainants included individuals from the Presidential Office among the accused.

In their reports, GSI and PLMCC claimed, "In the process of abandoning the prosecution's appeal, duties that should have been performed according to the Constitution and laws were neglected, and power was abused," and requested, "Please conduct a thorough investigation to uncover all the charges."

The police had assigned the five related complaint cases to the Seocho Police Station and planned to proceed with investigations of the complainants.