Park Beom-gye: "Conflict of Interest in 'Kim Hak-ui Investigation Team'... Significant Personnel Changes at Senior Prosecutor Level Expected"

Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye commented that the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office investigation team, which is investigating the illegal travel ban allegations involving former Deputy Minister of Justice Kim Hak-ui, represents a "conflict of interest."

On the morning of the 14th, Minister Park, while arriving at the Ministry of Justice Government Gwacheon Complex, told reporters, "The investigation team treated former Deputy Minister Kim as a suspect in the sexual bribery and bribery case, but in the current travel ban case, they are investigating him as a victim. Legal professionals generally see this as a conflict of interest."

Currently, Lee Jeong-seop, head of the Criminal Division 3 at the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, who is responsible for investigating the illegal travel ban case involving former Deputy Minister Kim, was part of the prosecutorial investigation team formed in 2019 to investigate Kim's sexual bribery and bribery case.

However, on the 10th, the Supreme Court overturned and remanded Kim's bribery charges, citing "suspected witness tampering," and Lee now has to prove this while simultaneously investigating the illegal travel ban case treating Kim as a victim.

When asked whether Minister Park would replace Chief Prosecutor Lee, he replied, "Separately from that, this recent high-level prosecutor personnel reshuffle follows the previous appointment of 41 chief prosecutors, so the scale of the reshuffle is large."

He also said, "Since chief prosecutors are all being assigned to frontline posts, the high-level prosecutor reshuffle must be expedited to stabilize the overall organization," adding, "The reorganization plan seems to be in its final stages. We are hurrying."

Furthermore, he stated, "There seems to be no need to meet Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo again regarding the reorganization plan," but added, "We will need to meet him in the future for personnel matters."