Choo Mi-ae Jokes at Lunch with Prosecutors, "If You Came Because of Coercion, You May Leave"

Scenes of Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae and frontline prosecutors having a meal and conversation on the 21st were revealed. Photo by Ministry of Justice YouTube channel 'BeopTV'

[Asia Economy Reporters Kim Ga-yeon, Intern Reporter Kim Seul-gi] Scenes of Minister of Justice Chu Mi-ae having a meal and conversation with frontline prosecutors were revealed.

On the 21st, the Ministry of Justice's YouTube channel 'Ministry of Justice TV' uploaded a video titled "Minister of Justice Chu Mi-ae's First Meeting with Frontline Prosecutors."

In the released video, Minister Chu shared lunch with prosecutors at the Government Complex Gwacheon in Gyeonggi Province on the 16th. It was 13 days after Minister Chu took office, and the prosecutors she met were selected as the '2019 Excellent Prosecutors' by the Korean Bar Association (KBA).

Minister Chu began with a smile, saying, "There are times when I take others' words seriously, not as jokes. I lack tact."

She continued, "When I was promoted to the 6th grade in elementary school, the homeroom teacher assigned to me seemed somewhat displeasing to me. That teacher suddenly said in the first class, 'If you don't like me, you can leave,' so I really took that seriously, packed my school bag, and confidently walked out the front door," sharing a childhood anecdote.

Then Minister Chu laughed and said, "So now, since we are about to greet each other, if anyone is here because they were forced to come, you may leave."

The attendees laughed along with Minister Chu's joke, and the video editor added subtitles such as "Haha, that's scarier," and "Even jokes," conveying the atmosphere of the scene.

Minister Chu said, "The prosecutors invited here were selected by the KBA not only for their efforts in discovering the truth but also for their attitude of prioritizing human rights in investigations and trials."

She added, "It's a difficult world to praise others, but these are people who have received praise. Let's give them an encouraging round of applause," encouraging them.

After offering words of encouragement, Minister Chu said, "With the separation of investigation and prosecution, we must break away from the organizational-centered investigative practices where only maintaining prosecution as an investigative prosecutor and securing convictions were reflected in personnel evaluations. From the standpoint of upholding both the discovery of substantive truth and the protection of human rights, I hope we can share such experiences and have conversations with fellow prosecutors here."

She continued, "In the organizational restructuring, the main focus has been on high-profile cases or so-called special cases, where excellent resources concentrate and compete, causing a backlog of general criminal cases. In some cases, cases are filed and sent but then put away in cabinets, making it difficult for related parties to take any action. That itself is a human rights violation," adding, "We are too insensitive to such things. We must change such investigative practices, and it is very important to make the public feel the changes."

Finally, she urged, "Amid changes in the investigative structure, while the important value of human rights is crucial, the individual prosecutors conducting investigations must also be happy."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.