Prosecutor Moon Ji-seok, who claimed to have faced external pressure while currently investigating matters related to Coupang, will appear before special counsel Ahn Gwon-seop's special counsel team on the 11th.
The Ahn Gwon-seop–Coupang special counsel team said on the 9th that it summoned Moon Ji-seok, Director General prosecutor at the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office, as a reference witness at 10 a.m. on the 11th. The special counsel team began its investigation on the 6th. This is the first probe related to the Coupang allegations since its launch.
The special counsel team is expected to identify the facts and circumstances of the alleged external pressure on the investigation that Moon claims, the background of the disclosure, and the specific details of the instructions that were reportedly handed down from higher-ups during the investigation.
Earlier, the Central Regional Employment and Labor Office referred the case of Coupang Fulfillment Services (CFS), Coupang's logistics subsidiary, over "unpaid severance pay" to prosecutors with a recommendation to indict. The Bucheon Branch of the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office issued a no-suspicion, non-indictment disposition in April.
Moon was the head of the Criminal Division 3 handling the case at the time. He appeared at the National Assembly's Environment and Labor Committee's audit in October and claimed that his then superiors, Branch Chief Um Hee-jun (now a prosecutor at the Gwangju High Prosecutors' Office) and Deputy Chief Prosecutor Kim Dong-hee (now a prosecutor at the Busan High Prosecutors' Office), pressured him to issue a no-suspicion disposition for Coupang.
Moon also testified as a witness at The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee's audit, saying, "On Mar. 7 this year, Branch Chief Um hurled insults and abusive language for about nine minutes, ordered an inspection by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, and said the case would be reassigned."
Um, on the other hand, says the claims are groundless. Um's side asked the special counsel team on the 6th to punish Moon for false accusation.