National Policy Planning Committee Postpones Prosecutors' Office Work Report Indefinitely, Citing Internal Circumstances

The National Policy Planning Committee has postponed the scheduled Supreme Prosecutors' Office work report, which was set for the 2nd, indefinitely.

On the 1st, a flag in front of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul, fluttered in the wind as Prosecutor General Shim Woojung tendered his resignation after nine months in office. Photo by Yoon Dongjoo

On the afternoon of the 1st, the committee announced through the spokesperson's office, "The work report from the Prosecutors' Office, which was scheduled for tomorrow (the 2nd), has been postponed indefinitely in consideration of the internal situation within the prosecution."

This measure is interpreted as a response to the recent wave of resignations from high-ranking prosecutors, including Prosecutor General Shim Woojung, ahead of the first round of prosecutorial appointments under the Lee Jaemyung administration.

Previously, on June 20, the committee had suspended the prosecution's work report, stating that the plan to separate investigation and indictment?a key prosecutorial reform pledge of President Lee Jaemyung?had not been properly reflected. The rescheduled report, which was set for the 25th of the same month, was also canceled a day before, and the committee had planned to receive the report again on the 2nd.

At a briefing on this day, Cho Seungrae, spokesperson for the National Policy Planning Committee, stated, "We did not make our pledge on the separation of investigation and indictment with the prosecution's permission," expressing the committee's intention to proceed with related discussions regardless of the prosecution's work report.