Park Gyuntaek: "Expansion of Prosecutor's Direct Investigation through Enforcement Decree is Unconstitutional"

"Beyond Delegated Scope of Prosecutors' Office Act, Illegal"
Kim Jeongwon, Secretary General of Constitutional Court, Responds "Agree"

Democratic Party lawmaker Park Gyuntaek is questioning Kim Jungwon, Secretary General of the Constitutional Court, during the National Assembly's audit of the Constitutional Court held on the 11th.
[Photo by Park Gyuntaek's office]

Park Gyuntaek, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea (Gwangju Gwangsan-gap), pointed out on the 11th at the National Assembly's Constitutional Court audit that the Yoon Seok-yeol administration is conducting 'cunning investigations' by revising enforcement ordinances to expand the scope of crimes subject to direct investigation by prosecutors, which is currently limited by law to two major crimes (corruption and economic crimes).

The Moon Jae-in administration had reduced the scope of direct investigations by prosecutors from the original six major crimes (corruption, economic crimes, public officials, elections, defense business, large-scale disasters, etc.) to two major crimes (corruption and economic crimes) to prevent abuse of power by the prosecution.

However, the Yoon Seok-yeol administration arbitrarily interpreted the phrase "important crimes such as corruption and economic crimes as prescribed by presidential decree" stated in Article 4 of the Prosecutors' Office Act and revised the enforcement ordinance. They included crimes by public officials and election crimes under corruption crimes and reclassified drug crimes as economic crimes, thereby expanding the scope of direct investigations by prosecutors again. Although the parent law (higher law), the Prosecutors' Office Act, defines only two types of crimes eligible for direct investigation, the enforcement ordinance, which is delegated by the parent law, includes general criminal cases such as false accusation charges, thus distorting the intent of the law.

Rep. Park stated, "If the content of the enforcement ordinance exceeds the scope delegated by the law, it is clearly illegal," and added, "Furthermore, it is unconstitutional because it violates Article 75 of the Constitution, which requires enforcement ordinances to be made within the scope delegated by the parent law."

He continued, "According to the Yoon administration's interpretation, even drunk driving to save agency fees can be considered an economic crime, and sex crimes can be included in corruption crimes as they stem from moral corruption," expressing concern that "Ultimately, under the Yoon administration, prosecutors can directly investigate any crime if they so desire."

In response, Kim Jung-won, Secretary General of the Constitutional Court, agreed, saying, "Enforcement ordinances must not exceed the scope delegated by the law," and when asked by Rep. Park whether he agreed that this issue goes beyond illegality to unconstitutionality, he replied, "There is that aspect as well."

Meanwhile, the prosecution is exercising investigative authority based on the presidential decree titled "Regulations on the Scope of Crimes for Prosecutors to Initiate Investigations," encompassing election crimes, drug crimes, false accusation and perjury, abuse of authority, and other crimes under corruption and economic crimes or considering them as related crimes.