Park Beom-gye: "Joint inspection will not be judged based on one-sided claims"

Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye is preparing for a briefing on the joint inspection results of the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Prosecutors' Office at the Gyeonggi Government Gwacheon Complex on the 14th. / Gwacheon - Photo by Kang Jin-hyeong aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] Park Beom-gye, Minister of Justice, stated regarding the joint inspection results by the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Prosecutors' Office related to the alleged perjury in the Han Myeong-sook case, "As a judge, I do not judge based on only one side's claim." This was also a response to the criticism from Cho Nam-gwan, Director of the Judicial Research and Training Institute, who said the joint inspection results were based on one-sided claims.

On the 16th, Minister Park made these remarks to the press on his way to work at the Ministry of Justice Government Gwacheon Complex, referring to the post Director Cho uploaded on the prosecutors' internal communication network the day before.

Director Cho posted an article titled "The Position of the Former Supreme Prosecutors' Leadership on the Announcement of the Joint Inspection Results by the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Regarding the Former Prime Minister Han Case" on the prosecutors' internal network, E-PROS, the previous day. In it, he stated, "From the perspective of the former Supreme Prosecutors' leadership involved in handling the related complaint case, there are inaccuracies that need to be corrected," and pointed out, "Procedural justice is upheld when following legal principles and evidence, not realized by one side's claims or beliefs." In particular, Director Cho refuted the joint inspection results by stating that Prosecutor Lim Eun-jeong was never the lead prosecutor in the alleged perjury case involving former Prime Minister Han.

However, Minister Park said, "That is the Director of the Training Institute's claim," adding, "My position is different, but I think the Director of the Training Institute can make such a claim from his standpoint." He further pointed out that the independence of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Inspection Department was not guaranteed during the handling of the alleged perjury case involving former Prime Minister Han at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office. Minister Park said, "Appointing the head of the Supreme Prosecutors' Inspection Department as an external figure and reporting only the start and results of the inspection to the Prosecutor General was to ensure the independence of the inspection work," adding, "If the inspection work is not independent, it literally becomes 'protecting one's own people,' which is also the background for the establishment of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials."

Meanwhile, regarding former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl's criticism of the joint inspection results as "saving Han Myeong-sook," Minister Park avoided a direct response, saying, "If you keep dwelling on the past..."

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