Yoon Judge Document, Not Illegal Surveillance? ... Jo Guk's Explanation from 8 Years Ago Gains Attention

Former Minister Cho Explains Difference Between Job Inspection and Illegal Surveillance on SNS 8 Years Ago
"Surveillance Targeting Civilians, Using Provincial Government Email Searches Constitutes Illegal Surveillance"

Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol is arriving at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the morning of the 20th. / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] Amid the controversy over so-called 'judge surveillance' sparked by the document containing information and public opinions about judges of the trial panel recently disclosed by Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol, a post by former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk from eight years ago titled 'The Difference Between Legitimate Duty Inspection and Illegal Surveillance' is being reexamined.

In April 2012, Cho Kuk explained on his Twitter, "What is the difference between legitimate duty inspection and illegal surveillance? First, targeting civilians unrelated to public office or public duties is illegal."

He continued, "Second, even if the target is a public official or related to public duties, if the inspection methods used are illegal, it is illegal," adding, "such as wiretapping without a warrant, email searches, opening letters, and investigating bank accounts." At the time Cho wrote this, there were allegations that the Office of the Ethics Officer under the Prime Minister's Office had illegally surveilled civilians in 2008.

A post by former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk in 2012 on social networking service (SNS) explaining the difference between 'official duty inspection' and 'illegal surveillance.' / Photo by SNS capture

According to the criteria explained by former Minister Cho at that time, illegal surveillance does not occur when ▲ the inspection target is not a civilian ▲ the information is already known through the internet and media ▲ and illegal inspection methods such as wiretapping, email searches, or investigating bank accounts are not used.

However, based on the criteria presented by Cho, there is an argument that the judge document disclosed by Prosecutor General Yoon could also be interpreted as not constituting illegal surveillance. Earlier, on the 26th, Yoon’s side filed a lawsuit at the court to cancel the suspension order and disclosed the document related to 'judge surveillance.' This seven-page document contained information about 37 judges from 13 trial panels.

Looking at the document, the targets are judges of the trial panels, not civilians; the information recorded in the document is already publicly known through the internet and media; and no illegal inspection methods such as wiretapping were used.

In this context, some have pointed out that there might be a slight difference between Cho’s current stance and his position eight years ago. Recently, Cho shared articles on social network services (SNS) such as Twitter criticizing Prosecutor General Yoon’s document as surveillance.

Former Minister Cho posted on Twitter, "(Illegal) surveillance ≥ (Illegal) wiretapping, tailing, filming, etc.," rebutting some criticisms that arose regarding his post from eight years ago. / Photo by Twitter capture

On the 27th, former Dongyang University professor Jin Joong-kwon shared Cho’s explanation from eight years ago on his Facebook, sarcastically criticizing, "The Cho Man Dae Jang Gyeong (Cho Kuk + Palman Dae Jang Gyeong) is a lighthouse that prevents us from losing our way in a dark world," and added, "The regime keeps confusing the media, but this is the definition of 'surveillance.' Refer to the words of a world-renowned legal scholar."

However, when Cho’s post from eight years ago was reexamined, he posted an image on his Twitter containing the phrase "(Illegal) surveillance ≥ (Illegal) wiretapping, tailing, filming, etc."

This is interpreted as a rebuttal that the meaning of 'illegal surveillance' is not limited to the examples he gave eight years ago such as wiretapping, tailing, and filming, but includes a broader range of inspection methods.