Prosecutors General on LH Scandal: "Restrictions on Direct Investigations Need Improvement"

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] Chief prosecutors from across the country presented their opinion to Park Beom-gye, Minister of Justice, that an amendment to the enforcement decree is necessary for the prosecution to fully exercise its investigative capabilities under the new criminal justice system. This opinion was expressed during a meeting convened by Minister Park with chief prosecutors nationwide to discuss responses to allegations of speculative investment in new towns by employees of Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), and it can also be interpreted as dissatisfaction with the prosecution’s inability to directly investigate real estate speculation.

According to the Ministry of Justice on the 15th, Minister Park held a meeting with chief prosecutors at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul, from 10:30 a.m. to 1:40 p.m. The meeting was arranged for Minister Park to hear from frontline chief prosecutors about measures to respond to real estate speculation offenders and ways to enhance the prosecution’s specialized capabilities in economic crimes.

At the meeting, the six chief prosecutors nationwide and the head of the Judicial Research and Training Institute expressed agreement with Minister Park’s view that recent real estate speculation allegations must be dealt with strictly. However, they suggested that under the new criminal law system, the prosecution’s direct investigative authority is limited, so supplementary measures such as revising the enforcement decree are necessary to ensure that national crime response capabilities can be fully mobilized within an organic cooperation system between the prosecution and police for crimes of national importance.

Since the adjustment of investigative authority between the prosecution and police took effect on January 1, the prosecution can only directly investigate six major crimes: corruption, economic crimes, public officials, elections, defense business, and large-scale disasters. The detailed enforcement decree further restricts the scope of direct investigations, allowing prosecution investigations of corruption crimes only for public officials of grade 4 or higher and bribery cases involving 30 million won or more.

The chief prosecutors conveyed their opinion that the prosecution should also enhance its specialized capabilities and establish a cooperative response system with related agencies for financial crimes that produce many victims and technology leakage crimes that undermine national competitiveness. In response, Minister Park said, "We will continue communication and refer to this in carrying out our duties," adding, "However, at this stage, I ask the prosecution to do its best to stabilize the new criminal justice system and respond to crimes."

Meanwhile, the meeting lasted about three hours. Attendees included Cho Sang-chul, Chief Prosecutor of Seoul High Prosecutors' Office; Kang Nam-il, Chief Prosecutor of Daejeon High Prosecutors' Office; Koo Bon-seon, Chief Prosecutor of Gwangju High Prosecutors' Office; Oh In-seo, Chief Prosecutor of Suwon High Prosecutors' Office; Jang Young-soo, Chief Prosecutor of Daegu High Prosecutors' Office; Park Sung-jin, Chief Prosecutor of Busan High Prosecutors' Office; and Bae Sung-beom, Head of the Judicial Research and Training Institute.

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