Prosecutors' Association "The Public Prosecution Office's organizational system is deformed... It must be restored to the Prosecutors' Office."

The abnormal organizational system of the Public Prosecution Service must be normalized... We will fight until the end

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Choi Yun-seon = On the 1st, a day before the launch of the Serious Crimes Investigation Office and the Public Prosecution Office, former Ministers of Justice and Prosecutors General called for their restoration, saying, "Abolishing the Prosecutors' Office is a regression in history and the worst mismanagement since the founding of the country."

The Prosecutors' Association (Chairman: Former Prosecutor General Han Sang-dae) said in a statement that day, "The Prosecutor's Office has been an axis and the last bastion of the rule of law for the past 80 years."

First, the alumni association pointed out that "prosecutors have a wide range of roles as representatives of the public interest, including directing supplementary investigations to police investigations, monitoring and supervising human rights violations, executing sentences, and representing public interest litigation," and "changing the Prosecutor's Office to the Public Prosecution Office does not fit the reality."

He went on to say, "Changing the Prosecutor's Office to the Public Prosecution Office while making the Director of the Public Prosecution Office the Prosecutor General and keeping the title of the prosecutors working at the Public Prosecution Office the same is absurd and creates a deformed form," and emphasized that the current deformed organizational system should be normalized by renaming the Public Prosecution Office to the Prosecutors' Office.

They argued that the prosecutor's right to request a warrant should be fully guaranteed.

The alumni association said, “Although the prosecutor’s right to request a warrant is within the prosecutor’s authority stipulated in the Constitution, it is unconstitutional to prevent the prosecutor from independently requesting a warrant,” and added, “This should be allowed, and investigations incidental to it should also be recognized.”

In addition, in order to check the investigative power of the police, they called for the establishment of a regular supervision and surveillance system for prosecutors and the transfer of the Serious Crimes Investigation Office to the Ministry of Justice.

The alumni association criticized, saying, “In principle, investigations are the area of ​​the rule of law and the jurisdiction of lawyers,” and added, “It makes no sense to place the Central Investigation Agency, which is solely in charge of investigations, under the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, an administrative organization.”

He added, “The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which can be said to be a model of the Central Investigation Agency, is also under the Ministry of Justice and under the control of the Minister of Justice.” He added, “The Central Investigation Agency should be transferred to the Ministry of Justice.”

The alumni association emphasized, “We strongly urge the implementation of these demands,” and added, “We will continue to fight until the end to fulfill them.”

The Prosecution Alumni Association is a social organization for retired prosecutors.

Former Prosecutor General Han Sang-dae, who served as Director of the Prosecutors' Office of the Ministry of Justice and Chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office during the Lee Myung-bak administration and as Prosecutor General from 2011 to 2012, is serving as the 9th Chairman.