Kim Osu: "To the President, I Will Address the Unconstitutional Aspects of 'Geomsuwanbak'"

On the 13th, at the press room of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul, Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo met with reporters and explained his opposition to the Democratic Party's proposed legislation on "Geomsu Wanbak" (Complete Removal of Prosecutorial Investigation Authority). Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

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[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] As the Democratic Party of Korea decided to pass the ‘Geomsu Wanbak (Complete Removal of Prosecutorial Investigation Authority)’ bill within this month, Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo requested a meeting with President Moon Jae-in.

On the 13th, at a press conference held by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, Prosecutor General Kim stated, "Today, I formally requested a meeting with the President regarding the bill to completely abolish the prosecutorial investigation function, which the Democratic Party has officially confirmed as its party stance."

He continued, "I do not know the specific details of the bill to completely abolish the prosecutorial investigation function that the Democratic Party is pushing forward, but I want to earnestly discuss with the President how he thinks about and accepts this renewed prosecutorial reform after a year, and I want to point out the problems," adding, "I will mention that there are unconstitutional aspects."

Prosecutor General Kim also emphasized that, in fact, Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye should take the lead. He explained, "Since the Minister is the highest authority for the prosecution’s command and supervision, I expect the Minister to naturally play a role," and added, "The venue where the Minister can play a role is ultimately the National Assembly, and the National Assembly’s Judiciary Committee is handled by the Ministry of Justice."

Regarding the nationwide meeting of high prosecutors and district prosecutors opposing the Geomsu Wanbak bill and the continuous backlash from prosecution members on internal bulletin boards, he said, "I do not consider it collective action," and added, "It is individual prosecutors or investigators expressing themselves through the prosecutors’ bulletin board or free bulletin board, and since we are public officials, we emphasize every day that we must faithfully perform our assigned duties and maintain discipline."

Regarding Prosecutor General Kim’s earlier statement that he would stake his ‘position’ to block the passage of the Geomsu Wanbak bill, he said about the timing, "The most important thing is to prevent the introduction of a system that completely abolishes the prosecution’s investigative function," and emphasized, "It is easy to resign. Nevertheless, if a wrong system is introduced, I believe it is natural to resign even ten times."

On his position that the Geomsu Wanbak bill violates the Constitution, he said, "It is unconstitutional because it prevents prosecutors, who are investigative agencies under the Constitution, from conducting investigations," and added, "If prosecutors are to be prevented from investigating, the Constitution must be amended to replace ‘prosecutor’ with ‘investigative agency.’"

Regarding the interpretation that Minister Park’s remark during his meeting with Prosecutor General Kim the day before?‘The road ahead is long, but the day is ending’?meant that it was too late to oppose the Geomsu Wanbak bill, Kim said, "I do not think so," and added, "Even if the day ends, we can light candles or torches, or use phone lights to proceed. We must go to the end."

In response to criticism that Prosecutor General Kim supported separating investigation and prosecution during his confirmation hearing, he explained, "In South Korea, 99% of investigations are conducted by the police, and less than 1% of investigations are conducted by the police, so in fact, the separation of investigation and prosecution is already taking place in South Korea," and said, "I cannot agree with completely stripping the prosecution of its investigative function."

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