Park Beom-gye "Lee Seong-yoon's Promotion... Appropriate Personnel Decision After Public Deliberation"

On the afternoon of the 22nd, Park Beom-gye, Minister of Justice, attended the government-related questions session on politics, diplomacy, unification, and security held at the National Assembly plenary session, responding to questions from lawmakers. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye described the promotion of Seoul High Prosecutor Lee Seong-yoon as a "public personnel decision without any private factors involved."

On the afternoon of the 22nd, during the National Assembly plenary session's government questioning on politics, diplomacy, unification, and security, Minister Park responded to People Power Party lawmaker Park Hyung-soo's criticism that "the promotion of Prosecutor Lee was inappropriate" by stating, "There was not even 1 gram of private consideration in the personnel decision."

Minister Park stated, "The focus was on whether Prosecutor Lee would remain as the head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, where pending cases are ongoing," adding, "I judged that this was not appropriate from a public standpoint."

He continued, "Most of the 23rd class were promoted to high prosecutors. In cases involving investigations, I judged it appropriate after legal and public considerations," emphasizing. Regarding the criticism that "in the 70-year history of the prosecution, no defendant has ever been promoted," he said, "Past personnel standards and my personnel standards may differ."

Regarding the prosecution organizational reform plan, he explained, "We are proceeding with organizational reform as a follow-up measure to the investigative authority reform," and "From the perspective of organic cooperation between the prosecution and the police in investigations, the crime response capability will not regress."

On the same day, in response to Democratic Party lawmaker Hwang Un-ha's question about whether a strong investigation should be conducted into prosecutors who covered up the former Vice Minister Kim's case, Minister Park replied, "Everyone knows who the person in the video is, but I am dumbfounded that they cannot write the name properly and instead refer to him as an 'unidentified male'." However, he refrained from elaborating, saying, "If I answer specifically, there is criticism that it constitutes directing the investigation."

When asked "How much have the prosecution's powers changed?" he answered, "It is also a reality that frontline prosecutors feel considerable deprivation and loss," adding, "There has been that level of investigative authority reform and adjustment."