Special prosecutor indicts ex-prosecutors over alleged coordination with first lady's office

South Korea's special prosecutor has indicted a former prosecutor and the former head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office for allegedly violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act. The charges relate to suspicions that they coordinated unofficial response drafts with the wife of President Yoon Suk Yeol's office during an investigation into stock price manipulation.

Choi Jae-hoon, former head of the Anti-Corruption Investigation Unit 2 at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, and Lee Chang-soo, then-chief prosecutor, were reportedly indicted as suspects. The special prosecutor's team obtained an unofficial response draft from the president's wife's side, scanned into a PDF, which predates her official submission by a month. This unofficial document showed modifications in red and blue markings compared to the final official response.

The special prosecutor's office suspects that the investigation team, in collusion with the president's wife's side, guided the modification of the response to be more favorable. Choi is also accused of concealing the unofficial draft while including only the official one in the investigation records. Lee is suspected of aiding and abetting this process by being aware of the actions.