[Column] Representative Lee Nak-yeon and Minister Chu Mi-ae's 'Legalism (法治)' Insensitivity

Seokjin Choi, Head of the Legal Affairs Team

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] The ruling party leader and the minister are launching fierce attacks over the prosecution's investigation related to the Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant.

They argue that it is a problem of government policy decision-making, but the prosecution is conducting the investigation with political intentions.

On the 6th, Lee Nak-yeon, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, said, "This is a political investigation and an abuse of prosecutorial power," and urged, "The prosecution should stop its reckless rampage."

On the 5th, when the prosecution conducted a search and seizure, Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae said at the National Assembly, "This is not a power-type corruption but a problem in the government's policy decision-making process," and attacked, "The politically motivated Prosecutor General is conducting biased and excessive investigations to attack and shake the government."

The ruling party cites as grounds for their offensive that the investigation began after Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol visited the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office, and that Lee Doo-bong, the head of the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office, is classified as a close aide of Yoon, having worked together as deputy prosecutors when Yoon was the head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office.

Is that really the case?

First, the target of this prosecution investigation is not the "government's policy decision" itself, but the "illegal acts," or more precisely, "criminal acts" that occurred during the government's policy decision-making process.

In other words, the investigation is not about judging the right or wrong of why the government decided to suspend nuclear power plant operations for energy transition and decided on the early shutdown of Wolseong Unit 1, but rather about criminal charges such as obstruction of audit, destruction of official documents, and possibly evidence tampering, which involve manipulating economic evaluations to support such government policies and destroying all related materials ahead of the Board of Audit and Inspection's audit.

The circumstances of these crimes have already been revealed through the Board of Audit and Inspection's audit results, and even without formal complaints or investigation requests from the Board of Audit and Inspection or the Financial Supervisory Service, the prosecution has always reviewed the possibility of criminality when these public institutions send reference materials requesting examination, and if suspicion is detected, they proceed with investigations. This is not a special investigation conducted only under this government, only by Prosecutor General Yoon, or only by Chief Prosecutor Lee Doo-bong.

Moreover, a formal complaint from the opposition party has also been filed in this case. Even if the complaint is utterly groundless, once a complaint is received, the prosecution's duty is to start an investigation at least to issue a non-indictment decision. Especially in a case like this, where the criminal circumstances are obvious to anyone and a formal complaint has been filed, are they saying the investigation should be overlooked because it supports government policy? Or do they believe that intentionally destroying official documents or electronic records to obstruct the Board of Audit and Inspection's audit is not legally a crime?

Article 141, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Act (Invalidation of Official Documents, etc.) states, "Anyone who damages or conceals documents, other objects, or electronic records or special media records used by public offices, or otherwise impairs their utility, shall be punished by imprisonment for up to seven years or a fine of up to 10 million won."

Regardless of whether the acts under investigation constitute abuse of authority or obstruction of business, the fact that Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy employees deleted 444 documents stored on computers on a Sunday evening, just one day before the Board of Audit and Inspection's interview to avoid the audit, is reason enough for the prosecution to launch an investigation.

Given this situation, watching Lee Nak-yeon and Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae label this investigation as a "political investigation," it is hard to understand whether they mean the prosecution should not wield its sword where crimes exist, but only selectively wield it in cases approved by those in power. Are they saying crimes related to government policies should be tolerated?

Furthermore, the Justice Minister, who holds the authority to direct investigations through the Prosecutor General, calling this a "political investigation" immediately after the investigation of a case with clear criminal circumstances and a formal complaint was filed, could be seen as providing a "guideline for investigation" to the frontline investigation teams, signaling that "this investigation is wrong" or "this is not a case to be investigated, so handle it lightly."

The government and ruling party previously launched similar political offensives during the prosecution investigations of Kim Kyung-soo, Governor of Gyeongsangnam-do, and former Justice Minister Cho Kuk. Do they think it is acceptable to manipulate comments to win a presidential election, or to forge certificates to send children to good universities? Do they believe it is acceptable to manipulate statistical figures such as economic evaluations or discard hundreds of official documents in the trash to enforce government policies like nuclear power plant shutdowns? It is unclear whether they truly think so.

Judicial justice, of course, requires just outcomes. But the process and procedures leading to such outcomes must also be just and appear just. The "fairness and justice" that President Moon Jae-in emphasized most since before his inauguration are being undermined by the current ruling party leader and the Justice Minister.

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