Park Beom-gye, De Facto Supporter of the 'Geomsu Wanbak' Bill: "The Core Issue Is Prosecutorial Fairness"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] On the 11th, Park Beom-gye, Minister of Justice, said that the essence of the 'Geomsu Wanbak' (Complete Removal of Prosecutorial Investigation Rights) bill promoted by the Democratic Party of Korea is "the issue of fairness in prosecutorial investigations."

Minister Park, while arriving at the Ministry of Justice Gwacheon Government Complex in the morning, said, "Seeing the Prosecutor General and even prosecutors from the Ministry of Justice's Prosecutor's Office respond in a coordinated and public manner to (Geomsu Wanbak), I wondered why they do not raise their voices so uniformly for good and fair investigations."

The prosecution has been expressing opposition to the 'Geomsu Wanbak' bill one after another, showing signs of an all-out confrontation. The Supreme Prosecutors' Office officially expressed opposition to the Geomsu Wanbak movement starting from the 8th and held a nationwide high prosecutors' meeting. On the morning of this day as well, a nationwide prosecutors' chiefs meeting was scheduled to discuss countermeasures against the bill.

Kim Oh-soo, Prosecutor General, high prosecutors, and senior officials of local prosecution offices publicly opposed the Geomsu Wanbak, expressing great concern that it would weaken crime response capabilities. Prosecutors belonging to the Ministry of Justice's Prosecutor's Office also participated by posting on the internal prosecution network 'Eprose'.

Minister Park pointed out, "Before the system, the issue of fairness comes first. It is not a matter of acting first and then discussing fairness as an 'afterthought.' Just as judicial independence exists as a means for judges to conduct good trials, for prosecutors, good investigation is the essence, and the means for that are what should be discussed. The subject and object have been reversed."

Regarding Kwon Seong-dong, floor leader of the People Power Party, who on the 10th criticized Geomsu Wanbak as "to protect former candidate Lee Jae-myung and close associates of President Moon Jae-in," and called it "an atrocity and a heinous crime," Minister Park said, "The floor leader of the People Power Party, which will soon become the ruling party, is a 'Yun Hae-gwan' (core associate of Yoon Seok-youl) and a former prosecutor. Then, does that mean the prosecution will carry out political revenge? I cannot help but ask that."

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