Active Prosecutors Criticize Choo Mi-ae's 'Separation of Investigation and Prosecution'... "By What Standards Should Investigations Be Conducted?"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Criticism from frontline prosecutors continues to pour in regarding Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae's proposal to separate the investigation and prosecution authorities within the prosecution service.

According to the legal community on the 19th, Prosecutor Lee Soo-young (31, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 44) of the Sangju Branch of Daegu District Prosecutors' Office posted an article titled "What is a Prosecutor?" on the prosecution's internal network 'Eprose' on the 18th.

In the post, Prosecutor Lee stated, "The prosecutor I know is a public prosecutor," and added, "As a public prosecution agency, prosecutors are inevitably involved from the initial stage of investigation as well as in filing and maintaining indictments." He continued, "I conducted investigations with great care to minimize infringement on the rights of those involved in cases based on the possibility of prosecution. If the investigation and prosecution are separated and a prosecutor only handles investigations, such judgment criteria will disappear, and I do not know what standards should be used to proceed with investigations in the future."

On the 17th, Prosecutor Cha Ho-dong (41, class 38) of Daegu District Prosecutors' Office refuted Minister Choo's claim that Japan's prosecution's low acquittal rate is a model case of internal control.

Prosecutor Cha said, "The general academic assessment is that Japan's so-called 'precision (精密) judiciary' is due to its passive prosecution practice," and added, "Japan actually has quasi-prosecution procedures (court review of prosecution for abuse of official authority, similar to our request for review) and prosecution review councils (organizations that retrospectively review the validity of prosecutors' non-prosecution decisions) to control such passive prosecution practices."

Meanwhile, Minister Choo is scheduled to meet with all district prosecutors on the 21st at the Government Complex Gwacheon. The meeting was originally planned from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. but was changed to 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. A dinner will be held for about 2 to 3 hours after the meeting. The agenda includes discussing the separation of investigation and prosecution, adjustment of investigative authority between the police and prosecution, and the enactment of subordinate laws related to the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office Act. Attention is focused on whether critical voices from frontline prosecutors will be raised through the district prosecutors at this meeting.

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