Park Beom-gye, Activates Investigation Command in ‘Han Myeong-sook Case’… “Prosecution Decision Discussed at Supreme Prosecutors' Office Chiefs Meeting” (Comprehensive)

Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye is attending a meeting with high prosecutors regarding allegations of real estate speculation by LH employees held on the 15th at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Park Beom-gye, Minister of Justice, has exercised his investigative directive authority regarding the ‘allegation of witness tampering against former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook,’ which the Supreme Prosecutors' Office had decided not to prosecute. The Ministry of Justice announced that through this order to reinvestigate a case already disposed of by the prosecution, it aims to correct the problematic investigative practices and issues that have arisen during the case handling process.

On the afternoon of the 17th, the Ministry of Justice held a briefing at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office conference room with Lee Jeong-su, Director of the Ministry of Justice’s Prosecution Bureau, and Ryu Hyuk, Inspector General of the Ministry of Justice, in attendance. They stated, “The Minister of Justice directs the acting Prosecutor General to convene a Supreme Prosecutors' Office chiefs meeting involving all department heads to conduct thorough discussions and deliberate on the possibility of prosecuting inmate Kim, who was identified as having been coerced into giving false testimony.”

Minister Park also instructed to listen to explanations and opinions from the head of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Inspection Department, the head of Inspection Division 3, and Prosecutor Im Eun-jeong, and to ensure a sufficient discussion process. The directive includes deciding on whether to register and prosecute inmate Kim by the statute of limitations deadline on the 22nd, based on the meeting’s deliberation results.

Earlier, on the 2nd, Im Eun-jeong, Policy Research Officer of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Inspection Department, claimed that she was suspended from duty under the order of then Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol in connection with the allegation of witness tampering against former Prime Minister Han. The Supreme Prosecutors' Office denied that the case was ever assigned to Im and designated the head of Inspection Division 3 as the lead prosecutor. After gathering opinions from all prosecutors involved in the investigation, they effectively dismissed the case without charges.

Regarding this, Director Lee stated, “It cannot be said that the Supreme Prosecutors' Office did its best to uncover the substantive truth,” and explained the rationale for exercising the investigative directive authority: “While the Minister of Justice’s investigative directives on specific cases should be avoided as much as possible considering the autonomy and neutrality of prosecution investigations, this case revealed several problems such as arbitrary case assignments and irrational decision-making during the prosecution’s direct investigation and case handling process, which must be corrected.”

The Ministry of Justice also pointed out that the prosecution’s investigative practices seriously undermine public trust in prosecution investigations overall, cause misunderstandings about the prosecution as a human rights protection institution, and provoke unnecessary controversies.

Inspector General Ryu said, “During a thorough review of the complaint records related to former Prime Minister Han’s case, we confirmed some circumstances of human rights-violating investigative methods against case-related persons, providing various conveniences to inmates while using them as informants or whistleblowers, and opaque summons and investigations of case-related persons.”

He added, “Unnecessary repeated summons of case-related persons and inappropriate contact with their families appear to be problematic. Also, providing inmates with outside food, private meetings, phone calls, and other conveniences while exploiting them as informants or whistleblowers is judged to be a serious issue.”

Furthermore, “The Minister of Justice has instructed the Ministry of Justice Inspection Office and the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Inspection Department to jointly conduct a special inspection of illegal and improper investigative procedures and practices revealed in this case, and to promptly report the results and improvement plans,” he said. “We will compile the results revealed through this joint inspection, prepare improvement measures, and strive to make this inspection a positive turning point for fundamentally improving prosecution investigative practices.”

When asked by reporters about the background of Minister Park’s choice of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office chiefs meeting as a rational decision-making method, Director Lee replied, “Several ideas were proposed, and the Minister chose this one.” He explained, “Calling an external expert advisory panel would require procedures and time, and there were divided opinions within the Inspection Department about this. Minister Park chose the Supreme Prosecutors' Office chiefs meeting as the most authoritative and meaningful consultative body according to rational decision-making guidelines.”

When asked whether Minister Park would accept the results from the Supreme Prosecutors' Office chiefs meeting, he answered, “Yes,” adding, “The meeting is intended to request a reconsideration if possible.”

Earlier that morning, Minister Park, while arriving at the Government Complex Gwacheon, told reporters, “I reviewed all the records of former Prime Minister Han’s case yesterday. I examined them carefully and thoughtfully and think a decision should be made today.” When asked if he was leaning toward exercising the investigative directive authority, he nodded. Minister Park had completed reviewing all inspection records transferred from the Supreme Prosecutors' Office by the previous day.

At the plenary session of the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee the day before, Minister Park also commented on the prosecution’s dismissal of the case, saying, “I have not received a report that the decision was made with the participation of the head of the Inspection Department or Policy Research Officer Im Eun-jeong,” and emphasized, “It is important to understand what efforts the investigators made and what process they followed.”

The allegation of witness tampering against former Prime Minister Han originated from a disclosure by an inmate in April last year. The inmate submitted a petition to the Ministry of Justice claiming that the investigation team at the time pressured fellow inmates of the late Han Man-ho, former CEO of Hanshin Construction and a briber, to give testimony unfavorable to former Prime Minister Han.

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