Ruling Party Judiciary Committee Members: "Supreme Prosecutors' Office Collected Information on 25 Judges... Investigation Needed"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] Kim Nam-guk and Kim Yong-min, members of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, stated on the 26th, "We received a report regarding the prosecution's alleged information gathering on judges and have reviewed its contents," adding, "This matter contains very serious issues and requires further investigation."

They held a press conference at the National Assembly in the afternoon and said, "It has been revealed that the Supreme Prosecutors' Office collected various information on 25 judges," and "For 12 of them, character assessments were prepared, summarizing whether they belonged to specific groups, whether they were included in lists of controversial judges, and evaluations of their trial attitudes."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

They continued, "They even recorded highly personal information such as judges' hobbies and family relationships," emphasizing, "The prosecution's explanation that all this information was collected to maintain public prosecution is an unbelievable and shocking matter."

They further stated, "If the prosecution systematically collected such information on judges, it greatly infringes upon the independence of the judiciary," and "The report appears to have been prepared beyond the lawful scope of prosecutors' duties."

They added, "A thorough investigation beyond mere inspection is necessary to verify the illegality," and "A broad fact-finding and truth verification through investigation is required, including whether the prepared documents were used for any purpose."

After the press conference, Representative Kim Yong-min told reporters regarding future responses, "We held the press conference first because we thought the documents needed to be urgently disclosed. Further discussions are necessary," and "We need to sufficiently discuss and decide the party's response policy, but I think it will be done promptly."

Representative Kim Nam-guk also emphasized, "The regulations allowing the prosecution to collect criminal information should be applied restrictively and strictly," and "Collecting judges' information and character assessments for the purpose of public prosecution itself should be evaluated as a very dangerous act."

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