Prosecutors Oppose Park Beom-gye's Investigation Directive: "Are You a Politician or a Public Official?"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] After Park Beom-gye, Minister of Justice, ordered a retrial of the perjury obstruction allegations in the case of former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook and a joint inspection by the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, voices of opposition have emerged within the prosecution.

On the internal prosecution network, a post calling for a live broadcast of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office chiefs' meeting on the 19th, where the perjury obstruction case will be reconsidered, was uploaded, receiving agreement comments from about 100 prosecutors.

Yang Seok-jo, a prosecutor at Daejeon High Prosecutors' Office (Judicial Research and Training Institute class 29), who investigated former Prime Minister Han's illegal political funds case, posted on the internal network on the 18th, expressing regret to a junior prosecutor who was in charge of prisoner investigations at the time, saying, "It is unfortunate that such things can happen to any prosecutor."

Prosecutor Yang shared a story about a suspect he once handled who gave false testimony in court, claiming that a prosecutor had coerced and threatened him to testify about a bribe case involving a local government head, and revealed, "Since then, I have kept my distance from prisoners."

He said, "I should have said 'I will do it' for the junior prosecutor who was in a minor position, but I did not," adding, "The junior prosecutor in a minor position was assigned to prisoner investigations and has been struggling for the past 10 years. I feel very sorry and apologetic." The junior prosecutor mentioned by Yang is currently under prosecution for alleged perjury obstruction related to former Prime Minister Han's case.

Shin Heon-seop, a prosecutor at Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office (class 40), also criticized Minister Park on the internal network with a post titled "Is the Minister a politician? A national public official? Where is political neutrality beyond that?" Shin referred to Minister Park's recent statement, "I am fundamentally a ruling party lawmaker before being Minister of Justice," and said, "As a superior, I am deeply conflicted about whether to see the Minister's true nature as a politician or as a national public official."

He also pointed out that Minister Park, immediately after the Supreme Court ruling on former Prime Minister Han's 2015 case, stated in various media interviews that "the Supreme Court's ruling bowed to power." He criticized, "It is questionable whether the directive to investigate, which unusually contradicts the judiciary's final judgment, was issued from a politician's standpoint or from that of a national public official."

A proposal to live broadcast the Supreme Prosecutors' Office chiefs' meeting was also made. Chun Jae-in, a prosecutor at Suwon District Prosecutors' Office (class 39), posted on the internal network, "I request the disclosure of the decision-making process of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office." He wrote, "As a member of the prosecution, I believe we have the right to know what problems exist in a case confirmed by the Supreme Court ruling, what mistakes the prosecution made during the maintenance of the public prosecution, and whether a legally acceptable conclusion has been reached."

Meanwhile, Cho Nam-gwan, acting Prosecutor General, expressed his position on the same day that he would humbly accept Minister Park's investigative directive.

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