Handonghun: "Minister Choo Mi-ae's Idea is Unconstitutional"... "The Right to Defense is a Constitutional Right"

Chief Prosecutor Han Dong-hoon. [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] On the 12th, Prosecutor General Han Dong-hoon claimed that Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae's directive to consider legislation that would forcibly unlock cellphone passwords is an "unconstitutional idea."

Prosecutor Han stated, "The defense rights of the party involved are constitutional rights, but the Minister of Justice, who should be the bastion of the Constitution and human rights protection, publicly criticizes the exercise of these constitutional rights by the party as 'malicious' and talks about enacting laws to prevent it, which I find absurd," emphasizing that it is an "unconstitutional idea."

Earlier that day, the Ministry of Justice announced that Minister Choo had instructed to review legislation that, referring to foreign legislative examples, would enforce compliance with court orders to unlock cellphone passwords and impose sanctions for non-compliance, in response to the prosecution's inability to unlock Prosecutor Han's cellphone password.

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