Busan prosecutor indicted over political memberships

BUSAN, Aug. 9 (Yonhap) -- An incumbent prosecutor was accused on Tuesday of being a member of opposition political parties in violation of a law banning political activities by public officials for the first time in the country, the local prosecution said Tuesday.
The 33-year-old prosecutor surnamed Yoon, who works at an eastern branch of the Busan District Prosecutors' Office, was indicted without physical detention on charges of breaching the National Public Service Law, the prosecution said.
Yoon also violated the Political Party Law by having memberships to two different political parties, the office said.
He gained his memberships in March 2004 to then ruling Uri Party, which is today's main opposition Democratic Party, and the minor opposition Democratic Labor Party (DLP), before being hired as a prosecutor in February this year.
He gave up the memberships after the prosecution began looking into politically active civil servants in June, but refused to quit as a prosecutor, according to the prosecution.
"We had no other choice but to indict him according to our principle to apply stricter standards to prosecutors," a Busan prosecution official said requesting not to be named. "Yoon will be suspended from his job beginning Wednesday and undergo separate disciplinary measures," the official added.
Seventy-four others, mostly unionized teachers, were also indicted without physical detention along with Yoon, on charges of making illegal donations as contributing members of the left-leaning DLP, prosecutors said.
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