Park Beom-gye and Kim Oh-soo meet for 50 minutes, 35 minutes in private... Chief Kim conveys internal concerns about organizational restructuring plan

Meet Tomorrow at 4 PM at Seoul High Prosecutors' Office to Discuss Specific Personnel Matters

Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo (second from the left) is greeting Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye (center) during a courtesy visit. / Provided by the Ministry of Justice

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] On the 2nd, Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo paid a courtesy visit to Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye and exchanged greetings, conveying internal concerns about the prosecution organization reform plan being promoted by the Ministry of Justice.

At 10 a.m. that day, Prosecutor General Kim visited the Government Gwacheon Complex of the Ministry of Justice to meet Minister Park. The meeting began with the attendance of Lee Jeong-su, Director of the Prosecution Bureau of the Ministry of Justice; Shim Woo-jung, Director of Planning and Coordination Office of the Ministry of Justice; Jo Jong-tae, Director of Planning and Coordination Department of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office; Park Cheol-woo, spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice; and Lee Chang-soo, spokesperson for the Supreme Prosecutors' Office. However, it is known that about 15 minutes after the meeting started, Kim and Minister Park had a private meeting for about 35 minutes without any attendees.

After the meeting, Prosecutor General Kim met with waiting reporters and said, "Yesterday, I heard concerns from high prosecutors and chief prosecutors about the organization reform plan from prosecution members," adding, "I conveyed the worries of the prosecution members to the Minister."

He also said, "Although it was not about specific personnel matters, I conveyed the general framework," and added, "I plan to meet Minister Park again tomorrow for personnel consultations."

Regarding the atmosphere of the meeting, Prosecutor General Kim said, "Of course, it was not bad, and (Minister Park) said that close communication is necessary," adding, "I responded in the same way."

He also stated, "I conveyed to the Minister that the President mentioned twice during the appointment ceremony that frontline prosecutors should be encouraged."

Regarding the statement made by Bae Seong-beom, Director of the Legal Research and Training Institute, who resigned the day before and mentioned in his resignation letter that "there should be no disadvantages in personnel matters just because one was a member of a specific investigation team," Kim said, "I think the Minister is aware of it," and added, "(Director Bae) made very excellent and good remarks."

Following the meeting between the two, at a joint briefing by the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, it was announced that Minister Park and Prosecutor General Kim would meet at 4 p.m. on the 3rd at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office to discuss the basic direction of prosecution personnel and the prosecution organization reform plan.

Park Cheol-woo, spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice, said, "Minister Park deeply sympathized with Prosecutor General Kim's inaugural speech remark that 'the prosecution should be people-centered and communicative,'" adding, "The Ministry of Justice and prosecution agreed to cooperate organically to make the public feel at ease."

Lee Chang-soo, spokesperson for the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, said, "The Prosecutor General conveyed his opinions on the basic direction of future prosecution personnel and the organization reform plan," adding, "Specific details will be separately discussed tomorrow at 4 p.m. at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office building."

When asked what specific opinions Prosecutor General Kim conveyed to Minister Park regarding personnel matters, spokesperson Lee replied, "It is difficult to provide specific explanations about the framework or direction of personnel matters," and added, "There are personnel principles mentioned by the Minister and personnel principles that the Prosecutor General thinks of. Those parts were well explained to the Minister."

Spokesperson Park said, "The Prosecutor General gave specific remarks to the Minister about the personnel direction, and the Minister mainly listened to the opinions."

When asked whether Prosecutor General Kim and Minister Park would discuss specific personnel plans during the meeting on the 3rd, both spokespersons avoided giving a direct answer.

However, spokesperson Park said, "The Minister has repeatedly emphasized formalizing the procedure to hear opinions on personnel matters from the Prosecutor General," adding, "Having a procedure to hear opinions on personnel matters tomorrow is part of that, and furthermore, this time the schedule will be announced in advance and the meeting scene between the two will be made public."

When asked what opinions were conveyed regarding the organization reform plan, spokesperson Lee said, "The Prosecutor General relatively detailedly explained to the Minister the concerns that frontline prosecutors have," but added, "It is difficult to discuss specific details here."

However, spokesperson Park said that the opinions of frontline prosecution offices on the organization reform plan, which were collected by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and delivered to the Ministry of Justice, will be disclosed through official channels.

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