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| Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon answers reporters' questions as he enters the ministry's headquarters in Government Complex in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. Yonhap |
By Nam Hyun-woo
The prosecution has set up an integrated investigation team for financial crimes at the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office, in line with new Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon's pledge to install such a team to counter such crimes.
According to the district prosecutors' office, the team will be comprised of 48 members, including those from the prosecution, the Financial Supervisory Service, the National Tax Service, the Korea Exchange and other authorities related to financial services.
The team will include seven prosecutors, with a prosecutor from a high prosecutors' office leading the team.
The establishment came just a day after Han, a prosecutor and one of the close aides to conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol, was appointed as the new justice minister.
A similar investigation team on financial crimes had been operating at the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office from 2013 to 2020, indicting nearly 1,000 people and arresting more than 300 suspects. It was disbanded by then-justice minister Choo Mi-ae in January 2020, who called for limiting prosecutors' roles in investigating crimes.
At the time, rumors spread that the disbandment was done in order to cover up alleged suspicions that then-ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and presidential aides were involved in fraudulent sales of funds at Lime Asset Management.
Unlike Choo, Han has been promising for the restoration of the investigation team after being nominated by President Yoon.
In his inauguration speech on Tuesday, Han reiterated that he will make his first step as the justice minister by ordering the restoration of the financial crimes investigation team, saying "those who break laws and cause damage to the public (through financial crimes) will have to take the responsibility."
Against this backdrop, expectations are growing that the prosecution may resume its investigation into the case of Lime Asset Management and other cases which are facing alleged suspicions regarding figures from the former ruling bloc.
Recently, the DPK, which holds a majority at the National Assembly, has passed revisions to laws that limit prosecutors' investigative powers in serious crime categories, but allowed prosecutors to launch direct investigations into corruption and financial crimes.
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