Top Officials Including Kim Osu 'Resign En Masse'... Prosecution Command Vacuum Inevitable

Lee Seong-yoon and Kim Gwan-jeong, 'Pro-Government' High Prosecutors Also Resign... Frontline District Prosecutors Show Resignation Moves
Prosecutors Inside Say "Political Collusion to Eliminate Prosecutorial Investigation Function... Not Mediation but 'Geomsuwanbak'"

On the afternoon of the 22nd, when the Democratic Party of Korea and the People Power Party accepted the compromise proposal presented by National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seok regarding the "complete removal of prosecution investigation rights" bill, Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo submitted his resignation and left the Supreme Prosecutors' Office building in Seocho-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul by car in protest of this decision. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] In protest against the decision to process the compromise bill on ‘Geomsu Wanbak (Complete Removal of Prosecutorial Investigation Rights)’ proposed by National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seok through bipartisan agreement, Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo and other top prosecutors have collectively resigned.

On the 22nd, following Prosecutor General Kim’s submission of his resignation letter, eight others including Park Seong-jin, Deputy Prosecutor General of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office; Lee Seong-yoon, Chief Prosecutor of Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office; Kim Gwan-jeong, Chief Prosecutor of Suwon High Prosecutors’ Office; Yeo Hwan-seop, Chief Prosecutor of Daejeon High Prosecutors’ Office; Jo Jong-tae, Chief Prosecutor of Gwangju High Prosecutors’ Office; Kwon Soon-beom, Chief Prosecutor of Daegu High Prosecutors’ Office; Jo Jae-yeon, Chief Prosecutor of Busan High Prosecutors’ Office; and Gu Bon-seon, Research Fellow at the Judicial Research and Training Institute (High Prosecutor), also submitted their resignations to the Ministry of Justice.

With the top prosecutors resigning alongside Prosecutor General Kim, a leadership vacuum in the prosecution is inevitable. Since their resignations have not yet been accepted, Deputy Prosecutor General Park Seong-jin will continue to come to work and seek response measures for the time being. It has also been reported that some frontline district prosecutors are showing signs of voluntarily resigning.

The Democratic Party of Korea and the People Power Party announced on the same day their intention to accept the compromise proposal on Geomsu Wanbak put forth by Speaker Park. The Speaker’s compromise plan separates the prosecution’s direct investigation rights from its prosecution rights but maintains the prosecution’s direct investigation rights temporarily.

The compromise plan, consisting of eight parts, aims to separate the prosecution’s direct investigation rights and prosecution rights, with the prosecution’s direct investigation rights being temporary. Even in cases of direct investigation, the investigators and prosecutors handling the investigation and prosecution will be separated.

Regarding the prosecution’s existing investigation of six major crimes, the plan proposes to "remove public official crimes, election crimes, defense industry crimes, and large-scale disasters" and states that "once other investigative agencies outside the prosecution reach a certain level of crime response capability, the prosecution’s direct investigation rights will be abolished." It also suggests "reducing the six special investigation divisions to three to decrease the total volume of the prosecution’s direct investigations" and "limiting the number of prosecutors in the remaining three special divisions to a certain level."

Within the prosecution, this has been met with reactions that the compromise is not really a compromise but not much different from the existing Geomsu Wanbak bill. Prosecutor A criticized, "The term ‘political collusion’ is accurate," adding, "They ignored reform plans that gathered the consensus of the prosecution and agreed to remove the prosecution’s investigative functions regardless of party lines."

The compromise plan also includes the formation of a Judicial Reform Special Committee with the authority to review bills, tasked with intensively discussing the entire judicial system, including the tentative ‘Serious Crime Investigation Agency (Korean-style FBI).’

The Serious Crime Investigation Agency is ordered to complete legislative measures within six months after the special committee is formed and aim to launch within one year. The Judicial Reform Special Committee consists of 13 members, chaired by the Democratic Party, with seven members from the Democratic Party, five from the People Power Party, and one from a non-negotiating party. The plan also includes provisions to incorporate crimes committed by officials of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) into the prosecution’s duties, to pass the prosecution reform bill during this April’s extraordinary session of the National Assembly, and to implement it four months after promulgation.

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