Lim Eun-jeong (30th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute), the head of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office who cleared customs officials of suspicion of involvement in drug smuggling, said on the 14th that "President Lee Jae-myung rebuked the Korea Customs Service during the recent work briefing," adding, "Since the president was greatly interested in this case, he would have received a detailed report on the investigation results, so I presume this is not unrelated to the matter."
She added, "Customs cannot catch every drug smuggler, but still, with so many people raising questions and feeling uneasy, I expect appropriate measures from the Korea Customs Service."
This appears to suggest that because the investigation results of the joint investigation team at the Eastern District Prosecutors' Office, where Lim serves, are legitimate, the rest is up to the Korea Customs Service. Recently, backlash has continued from Inspector Baek Hae-ryong and some supporters of the ruling bloc over the joint investigation team's decision to clear the allegations of external pressure on the drug investigation.
Lim also said, "This is now an issue for the Korea Customs Service under the Lee Jae-myung administration, and a matter of Korea's national stature," adding, "I ask the Korea Customs Service to provide an explanation and promote the institutional improvements." Lim said on Facebook the same day that she had sent an email with this content to the commissioner of the Korea Customs Service.
Inspector Baek has repeatedly posted on Facebook over the weekend criticizing prosecutors, including Lim. He posted, calling it "the original reply from a Korea Customs Service employee who read the Eastern District Prosecutors' Office's results release," that even during the COVID-19 pandemic there were no staff cuts or organizational changes at the Korea Customs Service and that there was no shortage of drug enforcement equipment.
This rebutted the Eastern District Prosecutors' Office, which on the 12th released that at the time of the case there was a lack of legal grounds and equipment to inspect the bodies and belongings of those entering the country.
Meanwhile, on Facebook the same day, Lim also mentioned a personnel move by the Ministry of Justice that effectively demoted Jeong Yu-mi, a research fellow at the Legal Research and Training Institute who had held the rank of chief prosecutor (Supreme Prosecutors' Office level), from chief prosecutor to line prosecutor.
Lim said, "In February 2018, I was present when Yoon Dae-jin, the deputy head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, encouraged me to go abroad for a policy study, and when I exposed this, a peer asked me to be prudent in my words and actions," adding, "After pulling myself out of that swamp, I became convinced that the truth eventually comes out and justice prevails."
She also said the prosecution should adopt a rotational post system like the courts so that even after becoming a chief prosecutor one would return to serve as a division chief prosecutor, adding, "I, too, will prepare myself mentally."
Previously, Jeong, the research fellow who had protested the prosecution's decision to forgo an appeal in the "Daejang-dong development corruption case," was assigned as a prosecutor (line prosecutor) to the Daejeon High Prosecutors' Office.