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South Korea’s first lady, Kim Keon-hee. (HankyorehTV)

As soon as prosecutors’ investigation into South Korean first lady Kim Keon-hee began in earnest, the top brass within the prosecution service was switched out. The prosecutors within the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office who were heading the investigations into Kim’s acceptance of a luxury handbag and her alleged stock manipulation involving Deutsch Motors have both been replaced. Also, the newly appointed chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office exemplifies the appointment of the president’s allies to positions of power. Both the timing and the nature of these personnel shakeups demonstrate clear intentions to block the investigations into the first lady.  

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office interrogated Choi Jae-young, the pastor who gave Kim a luxury handbag, for 13 hours on Monday, the same day that this personnel reshuffle occurred. This was a mere 11 days after Prosecutor General Lee One-seok ordered Song Kyung-ho, head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, to form a special team devoted to investigating the first lady “as thoroughly and as swiftly as possible.” 

Justice Minister Park Sung-jae, who was appointed this past February, formerly declared that “now is not the time for personnel changes,” indicating that he would not be approving major changes in prosecutorial leadership. This has led even those within the prosecution service to express surprise over this sudden leadership reshuffle.  

All the high-level prosecutors charged with investigating the first lady were essentially demoted to trivial posts, professionally exiled. This all happened amid rampant rumors that Song and the presidential office were clashing over the former’s public statements about the need to investigate the first lady. His replacement, Lee Chang-su, who formerly headed the Jeonju District Office, was the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office spokesperson during Yoon’s term as prosecutor general. His loyalty to Yoon is widely known. 

What’s also notable is that Lee One-seok, the current prosecutor general, only has four months left in his term. Among eight of the country’s highest-ranking prosecutors, six of them were replaced in the recent shuffle. Lee’s order for an investigation into the first lady was justified, although a bit late, yet it looks to have incited retribution from the Yoon camp. The motivation is clear: stop or blunt the investigation at all costs.     

This all comes just six days after Yoon appointed Kim Joo-hyun as his new senior secretary for civil affairs. The recently resurrected position has been publicly criticized as a post created specifically to tighten the president’s grip over prosecutors. And lo behold, his first official act has been a blatant campaign to suppress an investigation into the first lady. Not only has the personnel shuffle threatened the integrity of the investigation, but the investigation itself could crumble altogether. 

After witnessing the exile of their predecessors, why would the replacements follow in their footsteps? The president has successfully converted the prosecutors into his personal shield from investigation. Exercising the presidential right to veto is one thing, but privatizing the office of the president for personal ambitions is another. The need for an independent special counsel investigation into the first lady has become more urgent than ever.

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