(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Bal-eum = The head of the inspection department of the Public Prosecution Service, which oversees inspection work within the Public Prosecution Office, raised the issue again regarding the activities of the fact-finding team of the Prosecution Service Respect and Human Rights Future Committee (Prosecution Future Committee), calling it a “serious threat to the independence of the prosecutor’s office.”
According to the legal community on the 3rd, Kim Seong-dong, chief prosecutor of the Public Prosecution Office, pointed out in an article posted on the Public Prosecution Office's internal network Epros the previous day, "A significant change in the criminal justice system has begun with the launch of the Public Prosecution Office, but a serious threat to the independence of prosecutors' duties is still ongoing in the form of 'the formation and activities of a fact-finding team.'"
Prosecutor Kim argued that former Justice Minister Jeong Sung-ho's order to form the Prosecutors' Future Committee and a fact-finding team may have violated the Prosecutors' Office Act.
He said that the fact that the fact-finding team operates independently without receiving instructions from superiors such as the Prosecutor General is an order that excludes the Prosecutor General's command authority, and that it should be based on Article 8 of the Prosecutors' Office Act.
Article 8 of the Prosecutor's Office Act stipulates that the Minister of Justice can only direct and supervise the Prosecutor General regarding specific cases.
Prosecutor General Kim emphasized, "If the 'Minister's instructions regarding the operation of the investigative body' did not clearly state that it was an instruction that excludes the Prosecutor General's command authority based on Article 8 of the Prosecutors' Office Act, it would be an indirect and illegal instruction to avoid political responsibility, which would be an instruction that violated the Prosecutors' Office Act."
He then pointed out that without specifying the case subject to investigation, the prosecutor general's command authority was first excluded and cases were added after the fact, which also "directly runs counter to Article 8 of the Prosecutors' Office Act."
Chief Prosecutor Kim criticized, “It is an abuse of the Minister of Justice’s authority to command and supervise the Acting Prosecutor General simply because human rights violations and abuse of authority are suspected in specific cases in which he, his close associates, or family members have not been confirmed to be involved.”
He said, "In a situation where there are many ongoing trial cases, it is possible to institutionalize the Ministry of Justice's direct intervention in the form of regulations and guidelines regarding the results of the investigation," and expressed concern, "If action is taken on cases under trial based on the results of the illegal formation and activities of the fact-finding team, it will be a serious risk and threat to the constitutional prosecutorial system."
Prosecutor Kim emphasized, "If you lose expertise, you lose a little, but if you lose independence, you lose everything. If you don't have independence, you are alive but dead," and added, "I hope that no action will be taken on the case under trial based on the results of the illegal formation and activities of the fact-finding team."
Prosecutor General Kim also raised the issue of work conflict in July, saying that the activities of the Prosecution Future Committee's fact-finding team fall under the duties of the head of the inspection department.
The Future Prosecution Committee was launched last June to investigate the truth of cases in which suspicions of human rights violations or abuse of power were raised in the course of exercising prosecutorial authority and to recommend measures to prevent recurrence.
Seven cases were selected as subjects for the first investigation, including ▲ Ssangbangwool remittance incident to North Korea ▲ Daejang-dong incident ▲ former Vice President of the Korea Institute for Democracy Kim Yong case ▲ Wirye New Town incident ▲ Seohae civil servant shooting incident ▲ statistics manipulation incident ▲ suspicion of false reporting on 'Yoon Seok-yeol's defamation'.
In addition, 12 additional cases were selected last August, including the Seongnam FC incident, the Baekhyeon-dong incident, and the Gyeonggi-do corporate card misappropriation incident, increasing the total number of investigation targets to 19.
As the cases subject to investigation included all cases in which President Lee Jae-myung was tried, suspicions were raised that this was a preliminary effort to cancel the indictment.
Currently, the cases being investigated are being investigated by a fact-finding team comprised of prosecutors to determine whether there are human rights violations or abuses of authority.
