Are impeached Korean prosecutors barred from all positions in government? No, that's not true: They can be back in a governmental position five years after impeachment.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) by @amoremio.kim on TikTok on June 27, 2023, under the title (translated from Korean into English by Lead Stories staff): "When a prosecutor is impeached, this happens to him/her..." It opened (translated from Korean into English by Lead Stories staff):
When a prosecutor is impeached, he/she cannot get any governmental position, and is also barred from starting his/her own law firm.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Fri Jun 30 09:32:09 2023 UTC)
The person seen in the video is Kim Yong-min, a lawmaker from the Democratic Party. He shared inaccurate information during his live stream on YouTube.
In reality, Korean prosecutors can be impeached by parliament and the Constitutional Court. If a prosecutor is impeached, they are removed from their position and prohibited from holding any government office for five years. Also, their law license is suspended for five years, which effectively disqualifies them from practicing law.
This misinformation rapidly circulated among Kim Yong-min's liberal supporters on TikTok, appearing in various other videos.
