Park Beom-gye "Regret over Media Disclosure During Opinion Gathering on 'Prosecutor Organization Reform'... Security Not Maintained"

Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye is answering questions from reporters as he arrives at the Ministry of Justice Government Gwacheon Complex on the morning of the 24th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Regarding media reports on the Ministry of Justice's large-scale prosecution organization reform, Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye expressed regret, saying, "I asked for internal opinions from the prosecution, but the information was leaked because they wanted to see the media reaction first."

On the morning of the 24th, Minister Park, upon arriving at the Ministry of Justice Government Gwacheon Complex, told reporters, "Is there any government agency in the world with such poor security? It's embarrassing." However, he did not answer reporters' questions about whether a fact-finding investigation would be conducted on this matter.

Earlier, on the 22nd, some media outlets reported that "the Ministry of Justice sent an official document to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office requesting opinions on the prosecution organization reform and is collecting opinions from various district prosecutor's offices."

On the same day, Minister Park referred to the prosecution organization reform, saying, "The reform of investigative authority is part of prosecution reform and one of the tasks of the Moon Jae-in administration," adding, "There are still parts that have not been properly organized. This is a remaining task that needs to be addressed."

Regarding the plan to establish a Financial Securities Crime Investigation Cooperation Unit at the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office, he explained, "It is not a revival of the former Securities Crime Joint Investigation Unit, but considering the practical need for investigation and organic cooperation between the prosecution and police, we are exploring an organization to respond to financial and securities crimes."

Last January, former Minister of Justice Chu Mi-ae abolished the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office Securities Crime Joint Investigation Unit (Joint Investigation Unit) shortly after taking office, calling it a "hotbed of corruption." The Joint Investigation Unit was a non-regular organization where specialized personnel from the Financial Services Commission, Financial Supervisory Service, National Tax Service, and others were dispatched as needed to analyze securities crime data with prosecutors and support investigations.

Meanwhile, each district prosecutor's office is expected to submit the results of their internal opinion collection to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office within this month.

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