The special prosecutor team investigating allegations of pressure to drop charges in the Coupang severance pay case has indicted prosecutors Eom Hee-jun and Kim Dong-hee.
On the 27th, the special prosecutor team indicted Prosecutor Eom without detention on charges of abuse of authority, obstruction of rights, and violation of the Act on Testimony and Appraisal before the National Assembly. Prosecutor Kim was also referred to trial without detention on charges of abuse of authority and obstruction of rights.
Prosecutors Eom and Kim allegedly pressured the lead prosecutor investigating the Coupang severance pay case to issue a non-prosecution decision while serving as chief and deputy chief of the Bucheon Branch of the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office last year. According to the special prosecutor's investigation, the two overruled then-senior prosecutor Moon Ji-seok's opinion that additional investigation was needed, violating Moon's legitimate investigative authority.
In 2023, Coupang Fulfillment Services (CFS) revised its severance pay regulations to require "more than one year of employment and at least 15 hours of work per week." The original regulation stated that "daily workers with more than one year of service would exclude periods with less than 15 hours of weekly work." This meant that if weekly working hours fell below 15 hours during any period of employment, the severance calculation period would restart from that date.
Workers who did not receive severance pay filed complaints with the labor office against Coupang, and prosecutors began investigating in January last year. The controversy intensified when Prosecutor Moon testified at the National Assembly audit in October last year, claiming that Prosecutors Eom and Kim pressured him to dismiss the case.
However, Prosecutor Eom denies the special prosecutor's conclusions. In a statement released on the 25th, Eom said, "It has been confirmed that the allegations in the warrant—that Prosecutor Kim and I excluded Senior Prosecutor Moon's opinion or omitted the results of the search warrant execution at the labor office—are not true." He added, "I provided my phone password to the special prosecutor, and they examined all messages, browser history, and photos. There was not a single piece of evidence that I colluded with Coupang."
Eom further stated, "Similar cases have already resulted in acquittals at appeals courts including the Anyang Branch using the same logic as the Coupang case, so I still believe the Bucheon Branch's decision not to prosecute Coupang was correct."