Acting Prosecutor General Noh Man-seok, under pressure to resign after dropping the appeal in the "Daejang-dong development corruption case," went to work on the 12th while avoiding reporters' questions about the internal prosecution demand that he step down.
Around 8:40 a.m. that day, on his way to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul, Acting Noh entered the building without answering reporters' questions such as "Do you have a position on the calls for you to step down?" and "Did you hear any remarks from Vice Minister Lee Jin-su regarding the exercise of investigative command authority?"
The day before, Acting Noh took a day of annual leave, and it is known that he weighed his future as calls for him to take responsibility spread within the prosecution. Earlier, on the 7th, after prosecutors decided not to appeal the first-instance verdict in the case of private businessmen involved in the Daejang-dong development corruption, Acting Noh came under pressure to resign from internal members.
On the 10th, Directors General (prosecutor generals) at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, who assist the prosecutor general (acting), are said to have demanded in an internal meeting that Acting Noh "take responsibility for this situation and resign." Research officers at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, who are line prosecutors, also conveyed their position calling for his resignation.
On the same day, 18 chiefs of front-line district prosecutors' offices nationwide, including Suwon District Prosecutors' Office chief Park Jae-eok, a classmate of Acting Noh at the training institute, posted on the prosecution's internal network (Epros), saying, "We request a detailed explanation of the specific circumstances that led to the instruction to drop the appeal and the legal grounds." Chiefs of the eight large branch offices also wrote in a joint statement, "If the circumstances leading to the instruction to drop the appeal in the Daejang-dong development scandal are not sufficiently explained, it will leave an irreparable scar on the reason for the prosecution's existence."
Earlier, on the 10th, Acting Noh also met reporters on his way to work but did not state a position regarding the alleged external pressure or his future.