‘Difficult to Get Close to’ Ministers and Chiefs
First Time Appearing Side by Side at the National Assembly Audit
Pressure to Lead Investigations at the National Assembly
“Minister, you can simply instruct the Prosecutor General sitting over there to ‘form an investigation team’ regarding Myung Tae-gyun. Can you do that, Minister?” (Park Eun-jung, member of the Jo Guk Innovation Party, to Park Seong-jae, Minister of Justice)
Minister of Justice Park Seong-jae (right) · President Shim Woo-jeong (left) [Image source=Yonhap News]
On October 25, the final day of the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee’s audit, an unusual scene unfolded where Minister of Justice Park Seong-jae and Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung sat side by side answering lawmakers’ questions. This was the first time the Minister of Justice and the Prosecutor General attended the audit together. Due to the special nature of their positions and relationship, the two heads have always maintained an ‘appropriate distance,’ but at the request of the political sphere, this unprecedented scene of sitting side by side in the audit chamber was created.
“They don’t sit together” ? A long-standing unwritten rule
One of the biggest year-end events in the legal community is the ‘Cheong-go Law and Culture Award’ ceremony. Former Chief of the Legislation Office Song Jong-ui established this award from his own funds to honor legal professionals and organizations contributing to the establishment of national legal order and the rule of law. The event, held every November, is attended by many high-ranking legal officials such as the current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court’s Administrative Office, former and current Ministers of Justice, and Prosecutor Generals. However, until last year’s 7th ceremony, a sitting Minister of Justice and a sitting Prosecutor General have never attended together.
This is due to the long-standing unwritten rule that “the Minister of Justice and the Prosecutor General do not sit together.” Except for unavoidable occasions such as the annual ‘Law Day’ ceremony on April 25, it is very rare for the Minister and the Prosecutor General to be present together. This is because of the Minister of Justice’s authority to direct investigations and the issues surrounding the Prosecutor General’s independence and neutrality.
Thus, the two heads are fatefully “unable to be close and must not be close,” and concerns have arisen that this unwritten rule and boundary have been broken.
An anonymous senior prosecutor said, “The Minister and the Prosecutor General always maintain distance to protect the independence of the prosecution,” adding, “This audit could set a bad precedent where the Minister of Justice can indirectly provide guidelines to the Prosecutor General or appear to do so.”
In fact, during the audit, Representative Park demanded that Minister Park instruct the Prosecutor General to establish a special investigation headquarters at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office to investigate allegations of illegal opinion polling involving Myung Tae-gyun. Minister Park responded, “We are reinforcing personnel at the Changwon District Prosecutors’ Office to enable the investigation.” Nevertheless, Representative Park pressured that “Changwon District Prosecutors’ Office lacks the will to investigate” and insisted that a separate investigation team be formed at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office.
Within the prosecution, there are concerns that such questioning could appear as providing investigation guidelines or political pressure on the prosecution. The questioning seemed to directly demand investigation instructions from the Prosecutor General.
If the National Assembly repeatedly sets a precedent of summoning the Minister of Justice and the Prosecutor General indiscriminately, there is even the possibility that the head of the Anti-Corruption Department of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office and the Chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office could be summoned to the audit simultaneously. A former chief prosecutor said, “If this happens, not only the independence and political neutrality of the prosecution but also the pride of all prosecution members will collapse.”
During the Moon Jae-in administration, tensions between the Ministry of Justice and the prosecution were prominent. As part of prosecutorial reform, the Moon administration pursued ‘de-prosecutionization’ of the Ministry of Justice. All four Ministers of Justice appointed during the Moon administration?Park Sang-ki, Cho Kuk, Choo Mi-ae, and Park Beom-gye?were not from prosecution backgrounds.
On January 7, 2020, then-Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae held her first meeting with then-Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl after her inauguration. The Ministry of Justice announced that the meeting was a routine courtesy call by the Prosecutor General following the Minister’s inauguration and included New Year greetings and friendly conversation. However, there was intense interest and much speculation about the background and content of the meeting between the Minister and the Prosecutor General.
The necessity of the tense relationship between the Minister of Justice and the Prosecutor General is also confirmed by court rulings. In the case where then-Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl filed a request for suspension of the execution of the order to suspend his duties against then-Minister Choo Mi-ae (2020Ah13354), the Seoul Administrative Court stated, “The exercise of specific supervisory authority by the Minister of Justice over the Prosecutor General should be minimal to achieve democratic control,” and “If the Prosecutor General blindly obeys the Minister of Justice, the independence and political neutrality of prosecutors cannot be maintained.”
Im Hyun-kyung, Legal News Reporter
※This article is based on content supplied by Law Times.
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