Kim Geun-sik "Stubborn Choo, Better to Also Serve as Prosecutor General"

Geun-sik Kim, Chairman of the People Power Party's Songpa-byeong District in Seoul./Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Joo-hee] Professor Kim Geun-sik of Gyeongnam National University, chairman of the People Power Party's Songpa-byeong district committee in Seoul, sarcastically told Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae, who exercised her authority to direct investigations, "Now the Minister of Justice should also serve concurrently as Prosecutor General."

On the 20th, Professor Kim wrote on his Facebook, "If Minister Choo is going to abuse her authority to direct investigations on top of her personnel authority, it would be better to give up the political neutrality and investigative independence of the Prosecutor General altogether and have the Minister serve concurrently as the Prosecutor General," he said.

Professor Kim said, "The authority of the Minister of Justice to direct investigations, as specified in the Prosecutors' Office Act, is a 'passive' power that should be used as little as possible," adding, "It is meant to guarantee the political neutrality of the prosecution as an investigative agency and to ensure strict investigations even against those in power by protecting the independence of the Prosecutor General in investigations."

He continued, "Since the Minister of Justice is a political appointee appointed by the President, the priority is to guarantee the investigative independence of the Prosecutor General as much as possible, and the authority to direct investigations over the Prosecutor General should be exercised only when unavoidable, which is the intent of the law," adding, "Therefore, the unprecedented exercise of the Minister of Justice's authority to direct investigations during the Roh Moo-hyun administration was in the context of a human rights improvement policy regarding non-detention in investigations under the National Security Act, and there has been no exercise of this authority since then."

He then pointed out, "The Minister of Justice, who exercises the authority to direct investigations?which is supposed to be avoided?in every politically controversial case, so why is there any need for a separate Prosecutor General?"

Professor Kim referred to the allegations of preferential military leave for Minister Choo's son, saying, "The minister's son's case was dismissed despite being full of lies," and criticized, "While the suspicions involving the Prosecutor General's wife are treated as mere 'hearsay' leading to the exercise of the authority to direct investigations, the neutrality of the prosecution is now meaningless."

He also mentioned a letter from Kim Bong-hyun, former chairman of Star Mobility and a key figure in the Lime Asset Management scandal, saying, "Minister Choo turned a 'major fraud case' that drained the blood and tears of ordinary people into a 'case to remove the Prosecutor General' in an instant based on a letter from a pro-government criminal," and criticized, "President Moon Jae-in, who appointed the obstinate Minister Choo as the successor to Cho Kuk, had a plan all along."

He added, "(The government) may protect the regime by putting Minister Choo forward, but it will not escape the severe judgment of history."

Meanwhile, on the 19th, Minister Choo ordered Prosecutor General Yoon to stop directing investigations into the Lime Asset Management lobbying allegations and four suspicions related to Prosecutor General Yoon's family.