Choo Mi-ae: "If You Had Listened to Me, Things Would Have Passed Smoothly" Targeting Yoon Seok-yeol

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae publicly criticized Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol, saying, "He cut my instructions in half." This remark targeted Yoon's decision to assign the investigation into the perjury coaching complaint related to the 'Han Myeong-sook case' to the Human Rights Department of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 25th, during a lecture at the Innovation Forum for first-term lawmakers hosted by the Democratic Research Institute at the National Assembly Members' Office Building, Minister Choo said, "Under Article 8 of the Prosecutors' Office Act, I instructed (Prosecutor General Yoon) to have the Inspection Department of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office conduct the investigation, but (Yoon) delegated it to the Human Rights Supervisor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office and told the Human Rights Department of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office to oversee it."

She added, "The Prosecutors' Office Act states that the minister can give specific instructions to the Prosecutor General regarding specific matters," and criticized, "If you give instructions, shouldn't they be followed? Even though they should have been followed, (Yoon) gave further instructions himself and assigned it not to the Inspection Department but to the Human Rights Department."

She then pointed out, "If he had humbly listened to the minister, things would have passed smoothly, but by trying to give instructions, he made the situation more complicated," and said, "There probably has never been a Justice Minister who worked with a Prosecutor General who does not listen."

Minister Choo continued, "After contemplating what to do, although the Prosecutors' Office Act does not stipulate re-instruction, I decided to 'give re-instruction,'" and said, "I convened a meeting in the morning and gave re-instruction."

She emphasized, "The fact that the minister had to give re-instruction because he did not listen is a fatal insult that will remain in the history of the prosecution," and added, "It proves that the prosecution has become the subject of reform, not its agent, to the extent that the minister had to do this."

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