Chungcheong-Honam Public Prosecution Office National Audit Office, ruling and opposition parties renew battle over ‘abolition of Public Prosecutors’ Office’

Jang Yoon-ki case and former President Moon bribery suspicion investigation war of words

(Gwangju, South Jeolla Province = Yonhap News) Reporter Jeong Hoe-seong = At the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee's audit of the Chungcheong-Honam Region Public Prosecution Office held at the Gwangju High Court on the 20th, a war of words broke out between ruling and opposition party lawmakers over the abolition of the Prosecutor's Office, citing major cases during the Prosecutor's Office as an example.

Rep. Kwak Gyu-taek of the People's Power Party said, "The Jang Yoon-ki case is a case in which the public sympathized with why the prosecution's supplementary investigation is necessary. The Sejong middle school girls' group sexual assault case is also an example of the Daejeon Prosecutor's Office performing a good supplementary investigation, but by leaving this aside, the name of the prosecution itself has disappeared due to politics."

Representative Yoon Sang-hyeon of the same party asked, "Which agency investigates cases where the police conceal the truth and leak investigative information, such as this year's Jang Yoon-ki case in Gwangju and the false conclusion of the disappearance of Jeju's parents' police officer?" and asked, "Can the independence and objectivity of the police investigation be secured after the abolition of the Prosecutor's Office?"

Rep. Kim Min-jeon of the same party also emphasized that the abolition of the prosecutors' offices was a wrong decision, saying, "Most of the cases of local prosecutors' offices were investigations related to the livelihood of the people. If political prosecutors were the problem, only the central prosecutors' offices should have been abolished and the local ones should have been left in place."

In response, Rep. Lee Seong-yoon of the Democratic Party of Korea pointed out, "The abolition of the Prosecutor's Office after 78 years is the result of Yoon Seok-yeol and his division abusing the prosecution's power against the opposing party while protecting their own members."

Rep. Park Eun-jung of the Fatherland Innovation Party pointed out, "After the prosecution reform, it is said that the problem is that there was no investigation command for special judicial police officers, but in the case of Daeyuwinia non-payment of wages in Gwangju, the problem was not command. It was the prosecution's inability to handle the case quickly, so the workers who were victims of non-payment of wages suffered for a long time."

Rep. Seo Young-kyo of the Democratic Party, chairman of the Legislative Committee, said, "Wasn't the prosecution originally an institution that protects human rights? The Public Prosecution Office just needs to do better with the existing investigations by requesting a supplementary investigation," and asked, "Please finish the 160,000 unsolved cases nationwide during the remaining supplementary investigation grace period."

At the National Assembly inspection on this day, in response to a question from Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Seong-yoon asking how the Jeonju District Prosecutors' Office evaluated the alleged bribery case against former President Moon on its own, Lee Jeong-ryeol, head of the Jeonju Regional Public Prosecution Office, responded, "I was briefed that 'it was a restrained investigation,'" leading to a series of criticisms from ruling party lawmakers.

Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Eui-gyeom argued, “The person who reported that the investigation was restrained is a traitor, the person who ruined the prosecution, and the person who will ruin the Public Prosecution Office in the future.”