[Breaking] Constitutional Court Dismisses Ministry of Justice's Request for Jurisdictional Dispute on 'Prosecutor's Complete Control Abolition Act'

Chief Justice Yoo Nam-seok of the Constitutional Court and the justices entered the grand bench on the afternoon of the 23rd at the Constitutional Court in Jongno-gu, Seoul, to deliver the judgment on the constitutional dispute over the legislation for the complete removal of prosecutorial investigation rights (Geomsu Wanbak).
[Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@]

On the 23rd, the Constitutional Court dismissed the case filed by Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon and prosecutors requesting a constitutional review regarding the 'Complete Stripping of Prosecutorial Investigation Rights (Geomsu Wanbak)' law, which was led by the Democratic Party of Korea last year, with a 5 (dismissal) to 4 (acceptance) vote.

On the afternoon of the same day, at the Constitutional Court's grand bench in Jaedong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, the court held a hearing on the case concerning the constitutional review requested by Minister Han and the prosecutors related to the amended Prosecutors' Office Act and the amended Criminal Procedure Act, and made this decision.

Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon, Kim Seok-woo, Director of the Legal Affairs Office of the Ministry of Justice, Kim Seon-hwa, Head of the Public Trial Department at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, and six other prosecutors filed a constitutional review petition with the Constitutional Court against the National Assembly on June 27 last year. They argued that the amended Prosecutors' Office Act infringed on the essential parts of prosecutors' investigation and prosecution rights, violated the constitutional principles of majority rule and due process during the National Assembly's resolution process, and undermined the purpose of the multi-party system.

Minister Han and others sought confirmation that ▲ the National Assembly's act of passing amendments to the alternative bill of the partial amendment to the Prosecutors' Office Act, which was sent to the government after the plenary session resolution on April 30, 2022, ▲ and the legislative amendment act of passing amendments to the alternative bill of the partial amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act, which was sent to the government after the plenary session resolution on May 3, 2022, infringed upon and invalidated the prosecutors' investigation and prosecution rights granted by the Constitution and laws, as well as the prosecutors' investigation and prosecution rights overseen by the Minister of Justice.