Park Beom-gye, Current Chief Prosecutor's Rebuttal to Former Chief Prosecutor's Article: "Indictment Leak, Before and After First Trial Are Different"

Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye is attending an emergency Cabinet meeting held on the 11th at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, regarding the 'Emergency Supply Measures for Urea Solution.' Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye directly refuted the claim made by a current prosecutor that it is difficult to regard the pre-trial indictment leak as a crime of disclosing investigation facts or official secret leakage.

On the 7th, Minister Park posted a link to an MBC news article on his social media service (SNS) Facebook, pointing out that indictments are being indiscriminately leaked as if ignoring the law, writing, "The period before the first trial and after the first trial are different," and "The problem arises because indictments related to specific cases are selectively leaked." He also added, "We must be cautious of attempts to justify investigations through so-called public opinion manipulation."

Minister Park's post draws attention as it contrasts with a post made on the 1st on the prosecution's internal network 'Epross' by Kang Soo-san-na (53, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 30), head prosecutor of the Important Economic Crime Investigation Division at the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office. It is interpreted as implying that there is an issue with Kang prosecutor's claim.

Earlier, Kang prosecutor posted an article titled "Crime of Disclosing Investigation Facts and Official Secret Leakage" on Epross regarding the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office investigating the indictment leak suspicion of Lee Sung-yoon, head of the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office, arguing, "The act of leaking an indictment after the prosecution is filed but before the trial begins cannot be naturally considered as constituting the crime of official secret leakage."

She continued, "An indictment is content that will be disclosed in court later, and the disclosure of the indictment does not constitute a matter that has significant benefits to the government, public office, or the public from an objective, general standpoint that should remain undisclosed externally, nor can it be seen as threatening national functions due to its leakage."

As evidence, she cited precedents such as former Minister of Justice Kim Tae-jung, who was acquitted after being indicted on charges of leaking an internal investigation report of the Sajik-dong team related to the 2003 'Clothing Lobbying Suspicion Case.'

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