A case against Lim Eun-nu, head of the Gwangju District Office of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, who was reported to authorities on allegations of defaming Kim Ji-yong, the nominee to lead the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, has been assigned to the anti-corruption investigation bureau of the agency's Seoul District Office.
According to legal circles on the 14th, the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency assigned the case against Lim — filed under the Information and Communications Network Act on allegations of defamation through the publication of false information — to the anti-corruption investigation bureau of the Seoul District Office on the 12th.
Lim has maintained that Kim, while serving as head of the first inspection division at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in 2018, quashed a public complaint requesting an inspection into sexual violence allegations involving a former prosecutor surnamed Jin. Jin is the brother-in-law of independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon.
The civic group Citizens' Action for Restoring Judicial Justice filed a complaint with the agency on the 8th, arguing that Lim's claims were false. Kim has denied the allegations.
A case against attorney Lee Jong-keun, a former chief prosecutor, which the same group filed on the 6th, was also recently assigned to the anti-corruption investigation bureau of the Seoul District Office. Lee is the husband of Park Eun-jung, a lawmaker with the Rebuilding Korea Party.
The group alleged that Lee, while serving as head of the criminal affairs bureau at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in 2020, handed down lenient dispositions to prosecutors implicated in the so-called Lime Asset Management "drinking entertainment" case. On that basis, the group filed a complaint against Lee on allegations of abuse of authority and violation of the Attorney-at-Law Act.