'Investigation Command Controversy' Park Beom-gye: "I Have No Comment Today... Just Leave Me Alone"

Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye./Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] Park Beom-gye, Minister of Justice, who has been embroiled in controversy over exercising investigative command authority, showed caution against further spreading of the controversy on the 1st by saying, "I have no comment today."

On the morning of the same day, while meeting with reporters waiting at the Ministry of Justice in the Government Complex Gwacheon, Minister Park first requested, "Please just leave me alone today," and when a reporter asked, "Yesterday, you mentioned seeking cooperation regarding the investigative command," he avoided answering by saying, "Don't ask. Don't ask."

When a reporter asked, "There are talks that the minister should take responsibility for some stagnant cases," Park replied, "I have no comment today."

When the reporter asked again, "You said you sought cooperation yesterday. May I just ask about that? Are you saying you will discuss it with Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo or District Prosecutor Lee Jung-soo?" he answered, "Well, I already explained everything yesterday. It's all included there."

To the question, "Can we at least get an answer about the special prosecutor part?" Park said, "I will think about it," again avoiding a direct answer.

When asked, "You said yesterday that it does not mean there was no discussion. Could there be further discussions?" he replied, "Anyway, let's be comfortable today..." and then entered the building.

The previous afternoon, JoongAng Ilbo reported in an exclusive article titled "[Exclusive] Like Choo, Park Beom-gye considers exercising investigative command authority... Targeting Han Dong-hoon," that Minister Park had instructed the Ministry of Justice’s Prosecutor’s Office to exercise investigative command authority to prevent the final dismissal of charges against Chief Prosecutor Han Dong-hoon, who has been under investigation for the 'Channel A coercion attempt' case.

Following reports that the Criminal Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office had submitted its 11th opinion of no charges against Chief Prosecutor Han, the revelation of this fact the next day raised concerns in political and legal circles about Minister Park’s exercise of investigative command authority.

In response, the Ministry of Justice conveyed through the official press pool to reporters, "Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye was reviewing restoring the Prosecutor General’s investigative command authority over all cases, which had been excluded twice by former Minister Choo Mi-ae, but due to distorted reports causing misunderstandings, the discussion has been suspended."

The previous day, Minister Park explained that restoring the excluded Prosecutor General’s investigative command authority was a normalization of an abnormal situation. However, critics pointed out that having neglected the abnormal situation for 14 months since his appointment, his intention to issue investigative command orders to restore Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo’s authority?known to be pro-government?over cases involving Chief Prosecutor Han, classified as a close aide to President-elect Yoon Seok-youl, and cases involving Yoon’s family, just about a month before the regime change, carries political motives.

Former Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae exercised investigative command authority twice during her tenure to exclude then-Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl’s command over cases involving Chief Prosecutor Han Dong-hoon, such as the 'Channel A coercion attempt' case, and cases involving Yoon’s wife Kim Geon-hee, including the 'Kobana Contents sponsorship fund suspicion' and the 'Deutsche Motors stock manipulation suspicion' cases. This investigative command exclusion continued even after Yoon stepped down as Prosecutor General last year and Kim Oh-soo took office.

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