Cho Kuk: "If Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol Refuses to Follow Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae's Orders, It Is a Clear Legal Violation"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk recently came to support Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae, who exercised her investigative command authority.

On the 4th, former Minister Cho posted on his social media service (SNS) Twitter account the content of Article 8 of the Prosecutors' Office Act, which stipulates the 'investigative command authority of the Minister of Justice,' stating, "Minister Choo's exercise of command authority this time was because the Minister and the Prosecutor General showed differences of opinion regarding the misconduct of Prosecutor Han Dong-hoon, a close aide of Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol, and the related prosecution and investigation procedures," and added, "In such cases, the Minister exercised command, but the Prosecutor General refuses that command? That is clearly a violation of the Constitution and the law."

Former Minister Cho continued, "Regardless of where the opinions of the Prosecutors' Meeting, which is merely an advisory body, are consolidated, they do not have an influence," and emphasized, "Dreaming of or supporting a Prosecutor General who is not subject to control is nothing other than introducing a 'prosecution pot show' system."

He also stated, "The Prosecutor General is not the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and prosecutors are not judges," adding, "In the system of separation of powers, even the President cannot command or supervise the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court regarding rulings or court affairs, nor intervene in judicial personnel matters. However, since the Prosecutors' Office is an external agency of the Ministry of Justice, it is naturally under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Justice, who also holds personnel authority over prosecutors."

He went on, "In the past, when former prosecutors became Ministers of Justice, a bizarre pathological phenomenon occurred where the Ministry of Justice was dominated by the prosecution, which was not eradicated. Therefore, the Moon Jae-in administration sought to thoroughly eliminate this," and added, "However, due to concerns about the Minister of Justice's intervention in investigations, Article 8 of the Prosecutors' Office Act was established. After I was nominated as Minister, a comprehensive dragnet investigation was conducted on my entire family, but after my appointment, I did not intervene at all nor receive reports. Regardless of agreement on the legitimacy of the investigation, exercising command authority over investigations involving the Minister's family would cause further controversy. Therefore, I silently endured the sharp edge of the prosecution's investigation. Currently, I am a criminal defendant, striving to refute the prosecution's claims and prove my innocence."

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