Ministry of Justice Submits Opposition to 'Prosecutor Candidacy Restriction Law'... "Potential Unconstitutionality"

The Ministry of Justice has expressed opposition to the amendment to the Prosecutors' Office Act, which prohibits prosecutors from running for public office for one year after resigning, citing "potential unconstitutionality."

Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon is responding to a lawmaker's question during the 3rd plenary session of the 405th National Assembly (extraordinary session) on education, social, and cultural issues held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul on the 5th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

According to the legal community on the 5th, the Ministry of Justice submitted a review opinion opposing the amendment to the Prosecutors' Office Act to the office of Rep. Itanhee of the Democratic Party, a member of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, in February.

The Ministry of Justice stated that although the Public Official Election Act and other laws already impose a 90-day restriction period to ensure the political neutrality of public officials, setting a one-year candidacy restriction period only for certain public officials excessively infringes on constitutional rights to hold public office and equality, based on precedents from the Constitutional Court, thus raising concerns about unconstitutionality.

Democratic Party Rep. Choi Kang-wook originally proposed the amendment to the Prosecutors' Office Act in December 2020 during the Moon Jae-in administration, which restricts prosecutors from running as candidates for public office for one year after retirement.

While the stated reason was to secure the neutrality of investigations and prosecutions by active prosecutors, it was criticized as the "Yoon Seok-yeol Candidacy Ban Act," aimed at preventing then-Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol from running in the presidential election. In February of the following year, the Ministry of Justice, led by Minister Park Beom-gye, expressed conditional support for the bill, saying, "We agree with the purpose but improvements are needed."

Regarding criticism that the Ministry's position has changed after two years, the Ministry stated that it was simply "organizing an accurate opinion."

Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon also attended the plenary session of the National Assembly that day and said, "This is the very law that Rep. Choi Kang-wook proposed to prevent candidate Yoon Seok-yeol from running, which was criticized as the 'Yoon Seok-yeol Prevention Act.'" He added, "Even the National Assembly's expert committee at the time issued a report stating that the law had significant constitutional issues."

He continued, "Recently, Rep. Itanhee's office requested an opinion again, so we provided a review," and pointed out, "Coincidentally, that representative was a judge who required even greater neutrality before resigning and becoming a lawmaker."

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