First Press Conference After Choo Mi-ae's Inauguration... Statements on Indictment and Prosecutor Personnel Changes (Comprehensive)

Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae is delivering opening remarks at a press conference held on the 11th at the Gyeonggi Government Gwacheon Complex. / Gwacheon = Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy reporters Seongpil Cho and Seungyoon Song] Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae held her first press briefing with reporters about a month after taking office. At the briefing held on the afternoon of the 11th at the Government Complex Gwacheon, Minister Choo maintained her consistent stance on the recent controversy regarding the non-disclosure policy of the indictment in the Blue House Ulsan mayoral election interference case. She stated that in the future, indictments will be disclosed during the trial process only for cases that the public needs to know about, in accordance with the presumption of innocence principle. She also announced that she would consider institutional improvements to separate the entities responsible for investigation and prosecution within the prosecution. Regarding the personnel reshuffle in the prosecution last month, she gave a positive evaluation, saying it was "the reshuffle with the fewest resignations."

Non-disclosure of Indictment... The First Step to Correct Wrong Practices

Minister Choo said regarding the non-disclosure policy of the indictment in the "Blue House Ulsan mayoral election interference" case, "We must consider the constitutional value infringements that may affect the remaining suspects." She also revealed plans to disclose indictments during the trial process as necessary, balancing the presumption of innocence and the public's right to know.

Minister Choo stated, "This is the first step to ensure the constitutional principle of presumption of innocence, the right of criminal defendants to a fair trial, and the practical observance of the principle of trial-centered proceedings." She added, "An indictment is a one-sided claim by the prosecution that files the charges. We need to distinguish this because if the indictment is disclosed, it is not just a claim but can be mistaken for fact."

Minister Choo also pointed out that the term "non-disclosure" is not appropriate regarding the indictment in the Blue House election interference case. She said, "It would be a distortion to claim that the summary materials containing the gist of the charges, which were submitted to the National Assembly in accordance with regulations prohibiting the disclosure of criminal cases, were not disclosed."

Minister Choo mentioned the U.S. policy on indictment disclosure, saying, "Foreign legislation should only be used as a reference to find ways to implement our constitutional values, and engaging in truth disputes over that does not help us." She continued, "The topic should be how and when to harmonize the presumption of innocence, the protection of the suspect's human rights, and the public's right to know," adding, "Nevertheless, the media is misrepresenting foreign legislation, causing doubts about the sincerity of the Ministry of Justice."

Minister Choo said, "We plan to establish standards for indictment disclosure as a way to balance the fundamental principle of presumption of innocence and the public's right to know." This is a blueprint to properly implement the presumption of innocence during ongoing criminal investigations and promote the public's right to know at the trial stage after prosecution. She also added, "The indictments disclosed during the trial process will be in full text."

Minister Choo stated, "In the future, indictments will be disclosed based on the resolution of a review committee in accordance with the Public Institutions Information Disclosure Act and the Criminal Case Non-Disclosure Act." Until now, indictments were submitted to the National Assembly under the separation of powers but were indiscriminately disclosed through the media, deviating from their original purpose and undermining the presumption of innocence and the protection of suspects' human rights. She clarified that the disclosure entity is the prosecution, not the Ministry of Justice. Minister Choo added, "Indictments will be disclosed after going through the Disclosure Review Committee established at each level of prosecution offices."

Separating Investigation and Prosecution Entities for Internal Prosecution Control

Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae is delivering opening remarks at a press conference held on the 11th at the Gyeonggi Government Gwacheon Complex. / Gwacheon = Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

Minister Choo said, "We will consider institutional improvements to separate the entities responsible for investigation and prosecution judgments within the prosecution," adding, "I think it can be piloted at the provincial prosecution office level even before legal amendments."

Minister Choo explained, "Even when the prosecution directly investigates and prosecutes major cases, neutrality and objectivity can be lost, so internal control mechanisms are necessary to ensure rationality." She added, "Before institutionalizing the separation of prosecution and investigation rights, we need to consider what should be reflected in the law," and "It is necessary to conduct pilot projects to properly establish the law."

Prosecutor General Jo Nam-gwan, who attended with Minister Choo, said, "By separating the entities responsible for investigation and prosecution judgments within the prosecution, we aim to prevent prosecutors' arbitrariness or errors and guarantee procedural justice for defendants as part of prosecution reform." Jo explained, "Japan has a similar system," and "In large-scale special department cases currently underway, the chief review prosecutor of the trial department reviews investigations and submits advisory opinions." He added, "This precedent was likely created because errors occurred when one person was responsible for both investigation and prosecution in Japan."

Jo said, "Our country also needs to come up with measures that gain public trust and reveal substantive truth by resolving various problems arising during direct investigations," adding, "This is also a reform task." Minister Choo supported Jo's explanation, saying, "Compared to Japan, our country's conviction rate after prosecution is quite high." She said, "Japan has separation of investigation and prosecution after going through internal control mechanisms, and even at the prosecution stage, democratic controls reduce the acquittal rate significantly," adding, "I think the prosecutor's maintenance of prosecution can ultimately reduce workload."

There Is No Personnel Reshuffle That Satisfies 100%... But...

Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae is attending a press conference held at the Gyeonggi Government Gwacheon Complex on the 11th, answering questions from the press. / Gwacheon - Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

Minister Choo said, "This prosecution personnel reshuffle has been evaluated as having the fewest resignations." She added, "There is no personnel reshuffle that satisfies 100%," explaining, "While the previous reshuffle focused on specific departments, this one is meaningful in that it gave promotion opportunities evenly," and "Especially, it properly evaluated and gave promotion opportunities to prosecutors who quietly worked in the trial departments."

Previously, the Ministry of Justice conducted a personnel reshuffle last month replacing all leadership investigating the current administration's misconduct. In the senior prosecutor-level reshuffle, Han Dong-hoon, former head of the Anti-Corruption and Criminal Investigation Department at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office who oversaw the Cho Kuk family corruption case, was transferred to Deputy Chief Prosecutor of Busan High Prosecutors' Office, and Park Chan-ho, former head of the Public Investigation Department at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office who led the investigation into the Blue House Ulsan mayoral election interference case, was appointed Chief Prosecutor of Jeju District Prosecutors' Office.

Subsequently, in mid-level personnel reshuffles, investigation practitioners such as Shin Bong-soo, former 2nd Deputy Chief Prosecutor of Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, Song Kyung-ho, 3rd Deputy Chief Prosecutor of Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, and Ko Hyung-gon, former head of the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 2 at Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, were demoted to provincial offices. Many senior officials at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, including Yang Seok-jo, senior researcher of the Anti-Corruption Department, were also replaced. All were figures known as the so-called "Yoon Seok-yeol faction," who had continued investigations targeting the current administration.

Some in the legal community have described these personnel changes by the Ministry of Justice as "cutting off Yoon Seok-yeol's hands and feet" and a "prosecution massacre." There were also claims that these were retaliatory personnel moves against investigations into the current administration. In fact, looking at precedents of past regular prosecution personnel reshuffles, it was unprecedented for the prosecution chief's aides to be removed all at once like this.

However, Minister Choo gave a different evaluation from these views on the day. She said, "Those who got what they wanted do not speak, and those who did not get what they wanted complain," adding, "Although not everyone is satisfied, this reshuffle had the fewest resignations and received positive internal evaluations."

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