Park Beom-gye "Prosecutors, Please Approach with Determination to Eradicate 'Real Estate Deep-rooted Evils' at All Costs"

Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Park Beom-gye, Minister of Justice, has ordered the prosecution to "fully respond" to crack down on real estate speculation.

On the morning of the 31st, Minister Park, while arriving at the Ministry of Justice Gwacheon Government Complex, told reporters regarding the prosecution's policy of full-scale response to real estate speculation, "I hope the members of the prosecution will take on this task with the determination to stake their fate and eradicate the deep-rooted real estate corruption."

He emphasized, "So far, investigations seem to be mainly proceeding under the Anti-Corruption Act, but since there is a possibility of crimes related to the duties of public officials or quasi-public officials, thorough preparation is necessary."

The day before, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office instructed local prosecution offices to ▲form dedicated investigation teams at 43 prosecution offices nationwide (deploying about 500 prosecutors and investigators) ▲arrest all public officials involved in speculative crimes and seek the maximum sentence in court ▲completely review real estate speculation cases from the past five years ▲fundamentally confiscate criminal proceeds and promptly and strictly handle referred cases.

On the morning of the same day, the prosecution held a nationwide prosecutors' video conference chaired by Acting Prosecutor General Cho Nam-gwan to discuss countermeasures to eradicate real estate speculation.

However, despite these prosecution policies, there is a prevailing view inside and outside the prosecution that there will be limitations for the prosecution to achieve investigative results in the current ‘LH incident’ under existing laws.

This is because the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission Act, the Special Act on Public Housing, and the Farmland Act, which apply to this case, are not included in the ‘six major crimes’ that the prosecution can directly investigate, so the prosecution’s role is likely to be mainly supportive of police-led investigations due to lack of investigative authority.

Regarding this, Minister Park urged, "There are some self-deprecating responses that there are limits to the investigation, but I hope that will not be the case."

In response to criticism that the guideline for arresting and investigating speculative public officials contradicts the principle of non-custodial investigation emphasized for human rights protection, he rebutted, "Generally, the principle of non-custodial investigation can be discussed, but this is a special situation with strong public outrage."

Furthermore, regarding the recent directive from the Supreme Prosecutors' Office to all prosecution offices to comply with the Ministry of Justice’s regulation on 'prohibition of disclosure of criminal cases,' he evaluated it as "a very meaningful and beneficial development."

Minister Park added, "If the investigation process, or even the contents of consultations between the leadership and local prosecution offices, are disclosed to the media, it would be a serious matter," and stressed, "It is necessary to review whether the regulation on prohibition of disclosure of criminal cases and the deliberation committee for disclosure are properly functioning and operating."

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