National Chief Prosecutors' Meeting Ends After 5 Hours... "Concerns Over Legislative Moves Like the Jungsoo Agency"

Goo Bon-seo, Chief Prosecutor of Gwangju High Prosecutors' Office (from left), Cho Sang-chul, Chief Prosecutor of Seoul High Prosecutors' Office, Oh In-seo, Chief Prosecutor of Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, and Park Sung-jin, Chief Prosecutor of Busan High Prosecutors' Office, are attending the nationwide high prosecutors' meeting held at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 8th. At the meeting, the nationwide high prosecutors gathered to discuss measures to manage the situation as the prosecution fell into confusion following the sudden resignation of former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] On the 8th, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office expressed concerns about the ruling party's legislative moves to establish the Serious Crime Investigation Office (Jungsucheong) and stated that it will actively voice its opinions according to future procedures.

The Supreme Prosecutors' Office also pledged to strive for the smooth establishment of the system to prevent confusion and public inconvenience caused by the enforcement of the amended Criminal Procedure Act and Prosecutors' Office Act, while steadily carrying out its own prosecutorial reforms.

After concluding the nationwide meeting of high prosecutors held to discuss organizational stability measures following Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol's resignation and responses to the ruling party's push for the establishment of Jungsucheong and the Public Prosecution Office (Gongsocheong) as part of the 'Complete Removal of Prosecutorial Investigation Rights' (Geomsu Wanbak), the Supreme Prosecutors' Office announced the meeting results and related positions.

The nationwide meeting of high prosecutors, presided over by Acting Prosecutor General Cho Nam-gwan (Deputy Prosecutor General), began at 10:30 a.m. and ended around 3:20 p.m., significantly exceeding the originally scheduled time.

The meeting was attended by the heads of six high prosecutors' offices nationwide, including Cho Sang-chul, Seoul High Prosecutors' Office Chief; Kang Nam-il, Daejeon High Prosecutors' Office Chief; Jang Young-soo, Daegu High Prosecutors' Office Chief; Park Sung-jin, Busan High Prosecutors' Office Chief; Koo Bon-seon, Gwangju High Prosecutors' Office Chief; and Oh In-seo, Suwon High Prosecutors' Office Chief. The meeting continued even during lunch with boxed meals, concluding nearly five hours after it started.

After the meeting, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office disclosed four decisions made during the discussions.

First, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office stated, "In the absence of a prosecutor general, all members of the prosecution will do their utmost to protect the public interest and enforce the law fairly without wavering, and will steadily carry out internal prosecutorial reforms."

It also stated, "The high prosecutors will strengthen communication with their subordinate prosecutors' offices and work together to establish discipline and maintain organizational stability."

Additionally, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office said, "Priority efforts will be made to ensure the smooth establishment of the system to prevent confusion and public inconvenience arising from the enforcement of the amended criminal laws."

Finally, it added, "We share the frontline concerns regarding legislative moves that bring significant changes to the criminal justice system and will actively express opinions through procedures in a direction that the public can sympathize with."

According to the results of collecting opinions from prosecutors, investigators, and staff at frontline prosecutors' offices regarding the push to establish Jungsucheong at the request of the Ministry of Justice, the overwhelming views were that "establishing a new investigative agency again shortly after the implementation of the police-prosecution investigation rights adjustment law and the launch of the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office (Gongsu-cheo) could cause confusion and is inappropriate," and "completely removing the prosecution's investigative rights could seriously weaken the nation's capacity to respond to corruption crimes."

By expressing agreement with the frontline offices' concerns and awareness regarding the moves to establish Jungsucheong and Gongsu-cheo, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office has clearly taken a stance opposing the legislation and indicated its intention to actively voice prosecutorial opinions during the legislative process.

However, during a video conference reporting on President Moon Jae-in's '2021 Work Plan,' the Ministry of Justice stated, "To continue prosecutorial reform, we will actively promote the separation of investigation and prosecution in a way that the public can agree with."

Currently, the ruling party has separately proposed the 'Prosecutors' Office Act Abolition Bill,' the 'Public Prosecution Office Act,' and the 'Serious Crime Investigation Office Establishment and Operation Act,' which aim to abolish the Prosecutors' Office, establish a Public Prosecution Office responsible only for prosecution, and establish Jungsucheong to investigate six major crimes left to the prosecution after police-prosecution investigation rights adjustment.

President Moon also emphasized on the same day, "Reform of power institutions is not yet complete," and "The separation of prosecution and investigation for checks and balances and human rights protection is a direction we must steadily pursue."

However, President Moon stated, "While this is a legislative matter, various opinions, including those of prosecution members, should be gathered during the legislative process," and "I hope responsible discussions proceed in an orderly manner according to procedures, considering the concrete implementation plans and the stabilization of reforms already achieved."

This can be seen as a call for 'speed control,' cautioning against the ruling party hardliners' hasty legislative push, but fundamentally, President Moon clearly supports the direction of 'separation of investigation and prosecution.'

It is true that the ruling party's legislative push slowed somewhat after Prosecutor General Yoon took the strong step of resigning before his term ended in protest against the Jungsucheong establishment moves. However, since the president, Ministry of Justice, and ruling party are united in advocating for the 'separation of investigation and prosecution,' it appears difficult for the prosecution to retain investigative rights over the remaining six major crimes.

If the ruling party's full-scale moves to legislate the establishment of Jungsucheong and Gongsocheong and the abolition of the Prosecutors' Office begin, there is a possibility of backlash in the form of collective resignations of senior officials or collective statements by prosecutors.