Former Seoul Central District Deputy Chief to Im Eunjeong: "Come to Your Senses... Haven't You Ever Conducted a Supplementary Investigation?"

As Im Eunjeong, Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office, openly criticized Justice Minister Chung Sungho's prosecution reform proposal, voices of criticism have emerged within the prosecution.

Im Eunjeong, Chief Prosecutor of Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office, discussing at the prosecution reform public hearing. Photo by Yonhap News

According to the legal community on August 31, Gong Bongsook, a prosecutor at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office who previously served as the second deputy chief prosecutor at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, posted a message titled "Chief Prosecutor Im Eunjeong, Please Come to Your Senses" on the prosecution's internal network, E-Pros, on August 29. She criticized, "Anyone who has worked as a prosecutor would never say such things," and asked, "In your 20 years as a prosecutor, have you never conducted supplementary investigations?"

Prosecutor Gong listed cases in which supplementary investigations were conducted on cases forwarded by the police, stating, "In cases involving suspects in custody with time constraints, or when it is necessary to hear statements directly from those involved, there is no alternative but to investigate directly." She added, "Even in very simple cases, requests for supplementary investigations and referrals to the prosecution are often repeated several times."

For example, she cited cases where the prosecution summoned both the suspect and the victim in a sexual assault case forwarded by the police for polygraph analysis, analyzed CCTV footage missed by the police to indict a case, and, upon learning that a stalking suspect who was referred without detention continued to threaten the victim, immediately requested an arrest warrant and secured detention.

Prosecutor Gong pointed out that none of these supplementary investigations were politically motivated. She acknowledged, "I admit that excessive exercise of prosecutorial power has led to human rights violations, so there is a need to reduce investigative authority." However, she emphasized, "But telling prosecutors not to investigate at all is tantamount to abandoning the pursuit of truth and the protection of victims."