Lim Eun-jung: "Kim Ji-yong ignored the complaint regarding the investigation into Han Dong-hoon's brother-in-law's sexual violence"

On the 5th, Lim Eun-jung, head of the Gwangju Regional Heavy Crimes Investigation Agency, targeted the tenure of Kim Ji-yong, the inaugural candidate for the head of the agency, during his time as the head of the 1st Inspection Division of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in 2018. She claims that candidate Kim effectively ignored her complaint requesting an investigation and inspection into the dereliction of duty by the inspectors at that time regarding the sexual violence case involving former prosecutor Jin Dong-gyun, the brother-in-law of independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon. In response, independent lawmaker Choi Hyuk-jin publicly criticized Lim, saying, "Stop playing politics."
On her Facebook page that day, Lim stated, "The first head of the Heavy Crimes Investigation Agency should be the first investigator of the agency," adding, "My vision went dark upon hearing the announcement of candidate Kim Ji-yong. A person who should serve as a cautionary tale must not become the first." She further claimed that she had never once heard candidate Kim raise his voice regarding issues when the prosecution failed to perform its duties.
The case Lim raised concerns about is the 2015 sexual violence case involving former prosecutor Jin Dong-gyun, the brother-in-law of lawmaker Han Dong-hoon, against a junior prosecutor. At the time, Jin's resignation was accepted without separate disciplinary action or criminal punishment, and he moved to an executive position at a large corporation. Following an investigation by the prosecution's 'Task Force for Investigating Sexual Harassment Truth and Victim Recovery' in 2018, he was indicted and sentenced to 10 months in prison in the first and second trials. The Supreme Court upheld the original ruling in February 2021.
On March 22, 2018, Lim filed a complaint requesting "an inspection and investigation into the dereliction of duty by the prosecution line in 2015" to Jeong Byeong-ha, then head of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Inspection Headquarters, and Kim Ji-yong, then head of the 1st Inspection Division. However, on May 4 of that same year, the 1st Inspection Division replied that "it is difficult to see circumstances that warrant the commencement of an inspection." Lim stated that she filed an information disclosure request on the 3rd to verify the specific grounds for this decision.
This is not the first time Lim has raised issues regarding candidate Kim. On the 17th of last month, she also publicly questioned whether candidate Kim had ever objected to orders from superiors during his tenure at the prosecution, specifically regarding cases such as the illegal lifting of the exit ban on former Vice Minister of Justice Kim Hak-ui. The following day, she claimed that parts of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's explanation regarding candidate Kim were inaccurate and demanded disciplinary action against the working-level officials.
Lim also publicly requested to be called as a witness or a reference person for candidate Kim's confirmation hearing. If Lim attends the hearing, the focus of the debate may shift from the existing dispute over "whether Kim Ji-yong is a pro-Yoon prosecutor" to a more specific level. This is because the specific question of why Kim Ji-yong, then head of the 1st Inspection Division in 2018, did not accept the request for an inspection into the handling of the Jin Dong-gyun case will emerge.