Lee Jeong-su, Head of Central District Prosecutors' Office, "Deeply Responsible for Fairness and Neutrality... Essential Functions of Prosecution Must Not Be Abolished"

Lee Jeong-su, Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, is delivering opening remarks at a briefing session on the National Assembly's 'Complete Prosecution Reform' mediation plan held on the 13th floor conference room of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office on the morning of the 26th. Photo by Choi Seok-jin

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] On the 26th, Lee Jung-soo, Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, emphasized regarding the mediation proposal of the 'Geomsu Wanbak' (Complete Removal of Prosecutorial Investigation Rights) bill presented by National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seok, "We must not move toward abolishing the essential functions of the prosecution."

At a briefing held in the building's briefing room that morning, Chief Prosecutor Lee stated, "Although the prosecution did its best, it failed to meet the public's expectations. We are not free from controversies over fairness and neutrality, and we deeply acknowledge our responsibility."

He added, "The abolition of investigation command, followed by the reduction of the prosecution's supplementary investigation scope and the phased abolition of direct investigations, will regress the role of uncovering substantive truth and protecting human rights. If the axis called the prosecution is insufficient, it should be supplemented more, but weakening this axis will shake judicial justice."

He further urged, "Please reconsider the National Assembly's mediation proposal, which has caused great public concern. I earnestly ask the National Assembly, the people's representative body, to carefully consider the will of the people."

The briefing was attended by Chief Prosecutor Lee, First Deputy Chief Jeong Jin-woo, Second Deputy Chief Park Cheol-woo, Third Deputy Chief Jin Jae-seon, Fourth Deputy Chief Kim Tae-hoon, and Secretary General Yoon Jin-ung.

The Central District Prosecutors' Office first raised issues with Article 4 of the mediation proposal, which prohibits separate investigations. According to this clause, the prosecution is prohibited from conducting investigations that deviate from the unity and identity of the crime regarding cases transferred from the police. It stipulates a ban on separate investigations. The prosecution's right to request corrective measures and cases where the complainant raises objections must also be handled within the scope that does not violate the unity and identity of the case.

Regarding this, the Central District Prosecutors' Office emphasized, "The concept of unity and identity should not be used as a legislative basis to prohibit all additional investigations beyond the purpose of banning separate investigations in the mediation proposal." They argued, "If all additional investigations are restricted, serious crimes that can be interpreted as allowing supplementary investigations when the police confirm the main culprit under current regulations will be buried, causing serious problems in terms of investigation efficiency and promptness."

They continued, "Currently, even if the prosecution requests supplementary investigations, whether this is carried out depends solely on the police's goodwill. There is a possibility of infinite repetition of the prosecution's supplementary investigation requests and the police's transfer or non-transfer, and there is no means to enforce compliance if there is a delay in police investigations."

"Strengthening the prosecution's supplementary investigations for police-transferred cases acts as a check on police investigations and will function positively from the public's perspective," they added.

Regarding the provision in Article 1 of the mediation proposal that separates the prosecution's direct investigation rights and prosecution rights, they argued that it creates institutional imbalance with special prosecutors and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), and that separating investigation and prosecution functions within the Prosecutors' Office is a logical contradiction. They also stated, "Separating investigation and prosecution is meant to guarantee the fairness of investigations, but even if the investigating prosecutor is prevented from filing indictments, preventing them from maintaining the prosecution has no relation to guaranteeing investigation fairness and only hinders efficient crime response." They explained that dividing duties by separating investigation and prosecution rights within the Prosecutors' Office also has practical limitations.

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