Acting President Jonamgwan to Preside Over 'National High Prosecutors' Meeting' Soon... Will He State Position on the Serious Crime Investigation Agency?

Goo Bon-seo, Chief Prosecutor of Gwangju High Prosecutors' Office (from left), Cho Sang-chul, Chief Prosecutor of Seoul High Prosecutors' Office, Oh In-seo, Chief Prosecutor of Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, and Park Sung-jin, Chief Prosecutor of Busan High Prosecutors' Office, are attending the nationwide high prosecutors' meeting held at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 8th. At the meeting, the nationwide chief prosecutors gathered to discuss measures to manage the situation as the prosecution fell into confusion following the sudden resignation of former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporters Seokjin Choi and Daehyun Kim] A nationwide meeting of high prosecutors will be held on the 8th, chaired by Acting Prosecutor General Namgwan Cho (Deputy Prosecutor General of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office), to discuss organizational stability measures following the resignation of Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol.

At the meeting, countermeasures against the ruling party’s push for the establishment of the Serious Crime Investigation Agency (Jungsucheong) and the Public Prosecution Office, part of the ‘complete removal of prosecution’s investigative authority’ (Geomsu Wanbak), are expected to be discussed, drawing attention to when and how the prosecution will express its stance.

The nationwide meeting of high prosecutors, held at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office from 10:30 a.m., will be attended by the heads of six high prosecutors’ offices nationwide: Sangcheol Cho, Seoul High Prosecutor General; Nam-il Kang, Daejeon High Prosecutor General; Youngsoo Jang, Daegu High Prosecutor General; Sungjin Park, Busan High Prosecutor General; Bonseon Koo, Gwangju High Prosecutor General; and Inseo Oh, Suwon High Prosecutor General. Also attending will be Jongtae Cho, Director of Planning and Coordination at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office; Kidong Park, Criminal Policy Officer; and Mugon Jeon, Policy Planning Director.

Acting Prosecutor General Cho, who made principled remarks during last year’s disciplinary request against Prosecutor General Yoon by Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae, arrived at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office around 8:59 a.m. using the underground parking lot instead of the main central entrance where reporters were waiting.

The other high prosecutors, arriving between 9:50 and 9:58 a.m. at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in Seocho-dong, Seoul, appeared to remain tight-lipped, likely due to the sensitive situation.

Oh, who arrived first around 9:50 a.m., entered the building without responding to reporters’ questions. Following him, Kang and Jang entered the building via the underground parking lot. Park also entered the building silently.

Cho, arriving around 9:58 a.m., responded to reporters’ questions about the meeting’s agenda by saying, “It’s before the meeting, so we’ll have to discuss it during the meeting to know.” When asked about his stance on Jungsucheong, he avoided a direct answer, saying, “We will discuss it thoroughly at the meeting.”

Koo, the last to arrive around 9:59 a.m., greeted the waiting reporters with “Thank you for your hard work” before entering the building.

The meeting agenda includes ▲organizational stability measures following the vacancy of the Prosecutor General position ▲establishment of a new criminal justice system ▲bills for the establishment of Jungsucheong and the Public Prosecution Office ▲and other prosecution reform tasks.

The meeting is expected to continue until 1 p.m., with lunch provided from noon. The results of the meeting are expected to be announced in the afternoon.

The main focus is on when and how the prosecution will express its position on the bill to establish Jungsucheong. In response to the Ministry of Justice’s request, the prosecution collected opinions from prosecutors, investigators, and staff at frontline prosecution offices until last week regarding the bill.

At the frontline offices, overwhelming opinions were that “it is inappropriate to establish a new investigative agency again so soon after the implementation of the police-prosecution investigative authority adjustment law and the launch of the High-ranking Officials’ Crime Investigation Office (Gongsu-cheo),” and that “completely removing the prosecution’s investigative authority could seriously weaken the nation’s capacity to respond to corruption crimes.”

Initially, based on these collected opinions, the prosecution had been considering officially expressing opposition to the establishment of Jungsucheong at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office level.

However, as the ruling party, which had pledged to submit the bill within this month and pass it by June, has entered a pause to observe public opinion trends following Prosecutor General Yoon’s resignation, the prosecution is also compelled to deliberate on the timing and extent of its stance.

Justice Minister Beom-gye Park also drew a line during a special interview with a local broadcaster in Gwangju last week, stating, “The current situation is not yet at a stage where the bill is submitted by a set deadline or the contents of the bill are firmly established.”

Additionally, the meeting is expected to discuss issues related to cooperation with the High-ranking Officials’ Crime Investigation Office (Gongsu-cheo), which is handling case transfers and re-transfers such as the ‘Kim Hak-ui former Vice Minister travel ban’ case and the ‘Han Myeong-sook trial related perjury coaching’ case, as well as internal prosecution system adjustments for police investigation cases following the abolition of prosecution’s supervisory authority over investigations.

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