Prosecutor Park Sang-yong, who handled the SSANGBANGWOOL remittance-to-North Korea case, is escorted out for refusing to take the witness oath during a full meeting of the Special Committee on the National Investigation into the Yoon Suk-yeol administration political prosecution fabricated indictment allegations at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 3rd. /Courtesy of News1

The Ministry of Justice on the 6th ordered the suspension of duties for Prosecutor Park Sang-yong, who handled the SSANGBANGWOOL remittances to North Korea case.

The Ministry of Justice said in a media notice that it had ordered the suspension of duties for Deputy Chief Prosecutor A at a district prosecutors' office in the greater Seoul area, who is under inspection for misconduct such as violating on-duty obligations during the investigation of the remittances to North Korea case and remarks and behavior raising doubts about the fairness of the probe. Deputy Chief Prosecutor A refers to Prosecutor Park.

According to the Ministry of Justice, Acting Prosecutor General Koo Ja-hyun on the same day asked Minister Jung Sung-ho to suspend Prosecutor Park's duties under Article 8 of the Prosecutors' Disciplinary Act. Minister Jung determined that, given the substance of the alleged misconduct, it would be markedly inappropriate for Park to perform duties and therefore suspended the duties.

Under Article 8 of the Prosecutors' Disciplinary Act, if a reason is deemed to constitute grounds for dismissal, removal, or suspension and a prosecutor under investigation is expected to face a disciplinary request, and it is recognized as markedly inappropriate for the prosecutor to continue performing duties, the prosecutor general may request the Minister of Justice to order a suspension of duties. If the Minister finds the request justified, the Minister may order a suspension of duties for up to two months.

Prosecutor Park is suspected of having attempted to induce testimony from former Gyeonggi Province Vice Governor for Peace Lee Hwa-young during the investigation into the SSANGBANGWOOL remittances to North Korea case. Separately from the case referred to the second special counsel, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office is conducting an inspection of Prosecutor Park through the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office's Human Rights Violation Check Task Force (TF).

Attorney Seo Min-seok, who previously represented the former vice governor, made public an audio recording of a call with Prosecutor Park. The ruling camp is citing parts of this transcript to raise allegations that Park engaged in "testimony inducement."

Park, on the other hand, said it is "a cut-and-paste that does not disclose the full call."

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