Park Beom-gye "Exercise of Investigation Command Authority Is Not 'Arbitrary'... Consensus Within the Ministry of Justice"

Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye / Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye explained that his exercise of investigative command authority regarding the ‘former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook’s alleged witness tampering case’ was "a request for the collective intelligence within the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office to reconsider and make a judgment once again."

On the afternoon of the 17th, Minister Park, while leaving the Ministry of Justice Government Gwacheon Complex, told reporters, "There were differing opinions within the prosecution, and it was judged that some form of final procedure was necessary," explaining his decision.

Regarding the exercise of investigative command authority, he said, "We held meetings not only with the Prosecutor’s Office and the Inspection Office but also with all heads of departments and divisions within the Ministry of Justice," adding, "It was not a personal opinion but a complete consensus within the Ministry of Justice, so I instructed the Prosecutor General and the Inspector General to be briefed."

On why the timing of exercising the investigative command authority was set for that day, he emphasized, "The statute of limitations for the case is next Monday (the 22nd). The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office needs to hold a chiefs’ meeting and review the records if necessary. Due to the absolute lack of time, the announcement was made today."

Regarding his order for a special inspection by the Ministry of Justice Inspection Office and the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Inspection Department into the investigative practices of the former Prime Minister Han’s investigation team, he pointed out, "Using unrecorded departure interrogations as a method of collecting criminal information and providing various conveniences such as food or telephone services to inmates to create inducements are practices that the prosecution should avoid in the future."

Earlier that day, Minister Park exercised investigative command authority over the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office’s decision not to prosecute in the alleged witness tampering case involving former Prime Minister Han, stating, "The Minister of Justice directs the acting Prosecutor General to convene a chiefs’ meeting of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office with the participation of all chiefs to conduct sufficient discussions and review the possibility of prosecuting inmate Kim, who was identified as having been coerced into false testimony."

He also issued instructions 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-jung, and to conduct thorough discussions. This included deciding whether to file charges against Kim by the statute of limitations expiration date on the 22nd based on the meeting’s deliberation results.

A Ministry of Justice official explained the purpose of exercising investigative command authority, saying, "It cannot be said that the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office did its best to discover the substantive truth," and added, "Various problems such as wrongful investigative practices, arbitrary case assignments, and irrational decision-making processes that emerged during the handling of the case were revealed, and it was judged necessary to correct these."

Previously, on the 2nd, Im Eun-jung, Policy Research Officer of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Inspection, claimed that she was suspended from duty in the case under the instruction of then Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol. In response, the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office stated that the case was never assigned to Officer Im, designated the head of Inspection Division 3 as the lead prosecutor, collected opinions from all prosecutors involved in the investigation, and effectively issued a non-prosecution disposition.

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