Park Beom-gye "Questioning Whether Investigation Command Rights Were Reflected... Will Pursue System Improvement" (Update)

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] Park Beom-gye, Minister of Justice, expressed doubts about the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's decision to dismiss charges in the case of alleged false testimony obstruction involving former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook, questioning whether the purpose of exercising investigative directive authority to ensure procedural justice was properly reflected.

On the 22nd, Minister Park stated in a press release, "I was informed by the acting Prosecutor General that the previous position of no charges regarding the false testimony obstruction complaint investigation in this case was maintained," and added, "I have confirmed the decision process and content."

Minister Park did not provide a clear stance on whether he would accept or reject the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's chief prosecutors' meeting decision. Instead, considering that the statute of limitations for the false testimony obstruction allegations against former Prime Minister Han expires today, the Ministry of Justice explained that the minister would not issue another investigative directive.

However, Minister Park pointed out, "This meeting was to deliberate on whether the inmate committed perjury, not on the guilt or innocence of former Prime Minister Han. It was problematic that the prosecutor from the investigation team, who was suspected of coaching testimony, attended the meeting without prior consultation," and added, "The attendance of the prosecutor suspected of instructing false testimony was not included in the minister's investigative directive."

He further stated, "If the conclusion was reached by relying on reports and Q&A without thoroughly reviewing the extensive case records within the limited time on the day of the meeting, it would be difficult to avoid biases against prosecutors who voiced different opinions within the organization, prejudices that the testimony cannot be trusted solely because the witness is an inmate despite consistent and specific statements, and controversies over protecting one's own members."

Minister Park also expressed regret over the leak of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office chief prosecutors' meeting proceedings to the media. He argued that if someone intentionally leaked important prosecutorial decision-making processes externally, it not only undermines the trust in the prosecution itself but also seriously distorts the national criminal justice process.

He announced plans to pursue institutional reforms related to direct investigations by the prosecution in light of this incident. Representative issues identified during the handling of this case include human rights-violating investigative methods, providing conveniences to inmates and using them as informants, opaque summons investigations of related parties, and media leaks of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office chief prosecutors' meeting content aside from the no-charge decision at the time of complaint reception.

Minister Park stated, "We will faithfully listen to public opinion during the process of promoting institutional reforms and actively consider citizen oversight measures in the prosecution's decision-making process to dispel controversies such as 'protecting one's own members' in the future."

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