Tag: prosecutors

Critics are saying that President Moon has passed this bill in order to protect himself and others in this administration from prosecution after they leave office:

President Moon Jae-in signed into law bills aimed at limiting prosecutors’ investigative powers, snubbing protests from prosecutors and the main opposition People Power Party (PPP).

During a Cabinet meeting, Tuesday, Moon approved revised bills of the Prosecutors’ Office Act and the Criminal Procedure Act, which were passed by the National Assembly on April 30 and Tuesday, respectively.

“Despite the government’s achievements to help authorities to be faithful to their roles, there are concerns about the prosecution’s political neutrality, fairness and selective justice,” Moon said during the meeting. “I believe this is why the National Assembly took a step forward to separate prosecutors’ investigative powers from their authority to indict.”

Korea Times

Here is what the critics are saying:

The main opposition PPP has condemned the prosecutorial reform bills, claiming they are aimed at protecting Moon and former officials of the Moon government from possible investigations by prosecutors. But proponents of the reform bills claim they will limit prosecutors from abusing their authority for political purposes.

“President Moon should convince the public of the reason why he seeks to pass the bills at the end of his presidency, and what are the benefits for the people,” PPP floor leader Rep. Kweon Seong-dong said during a rally in front of Cheong Wa Dae, Tuesday.

“We should think of why the DPK is striving to pass the bills despite using mean tricks. … While persuading lawmakers, a DPK member said at least 20 members of the party may go to jail (if the bills are not passed). This is the nature of the party’s effort to strip prosecutors of their investigative rights.”

To pass the bills, the DPK used the so-called “salami tactic,” which is cutting the plenary session into shorter one-day sessions. Due to this, the PPP’s efforts to stop the dominant ruling party from unilaterally passing the bills through filibusters ended in vain.

You can read more at the link.

The Moon administration has finally gotten Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl to resign:

 Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl resigned Thursday, after strongly objecting to the ruling party’s push to create a new state agency to fully take over investigative powers from the prosecution service.

“I am offering to resign as of today,” Yoon said at a brief press conference held in front of the Supreme Prosecutors Office in Seoul.

“The spirits of the Constitution and the system of rule of law are crumbling. And it will cause damage to people. It is hard to watch common sense and justice collapsing,” he said, adding that he has done everything he could do in his capacity as prosecutor general.

President Moon Jae-in swiftly accepted his resignation offer, Cheong Wa Dae said, shortly after the prosecution chief made the announcement.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the Moon administration has been trying to take out Yoon because he had the nerve to investigate corruption within the administration. That is what makes this new investigation agency they want to establish so controversial because an administration with a numerous corruption issues wants to form their own agency to investigate corruption and other crimes. The concern is that ruling party will use it to protect themselves and go after their political enemies. If this new agency was in operation when the Cho Kuk scandal hit does anyone think this Blue House appointed agency would have done much to investigate and indict him and his family for corruption?

As I have said before South Korea has long been a rule by law country and not a rule of law country. This agency may make it worse.

Here is the latest attempt by the Moon administration to reduce the power of prosecutors in South Korea:

 Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol strongly criticized a recent move by the ruling party to create another state investigative agency to limit the power of the prosecution service.

“Taking investigative power away from the prosecution amounts to regression of democracy and destruction of the spirits of the Constitution,” the top prosecutor said in an interview with Kookmin Daily published Tuesday.

“I am willing to stake my position for the 100th time if I could stop it,” he said.

The ruling Democratic Party (DP) is seeking to establish yet another agency tasked with investigating six types of serious crimes, including abuse of power and corruption, under the Ministry of Justice, which will strip the prosecution service of investigative power into those crimes and leave it only with the power to prosecute.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this issue really comes down to is who would control this new investigating agency? If it is controlled by the Blue House with the potential to be used to settle political scores then I can understand the concern of setting up this new agency.

It appears the prosecutors office is trying to quickly seize what evidence they can to support their corruption investigations before the new ROK Justice Minister completely gets it shut down:

Cheong Wa Dae expressed strong regret Friday over state prosecutors’ attempt at what it called a reckless search of the presidential office.

Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office in the morning sent a team of investigators to Cheong Wa Dae with a search warrant for the office of a unit that handles policies related to support for provincial governments.

It was part of an intensive probe into allegations that President Moon’s aides had meddled in the 2018 Ulsan mayor election in which Song Cheol-ho, Moon’s longtime friend, won.

Prosecutors failed to enforce the warrant due to Cheong Wa Dae’s refusal to cooperate.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This should be a surprise to no one that with the appointment of the new Choo Mi-ae as the ROK Justice Minister that stopping further investigation into the current government would be her first priority:

The Ministry of Justice abruptly reassigned prosecutors who have been investigating abuse of power and corruption allegations against key members of the Moon Jae-in administration and effectively demoted Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl’s closest aides. 

The ministry announced Wednesday evening that 32 senior members of the prosecution will be moved to new posts as of Monday. According to the ministry, 10 prosecutors were promoted to serve as heads of five high prosecutors’ offices and five district prosecutors’ offices, and the remaining 22 were reassigned to other jobs.

While prosecutors who have been working on high-profile cases involving Moon’s associates were moved to less important posts outside Seoul, prosecutors who had maintained amicable ties with the current administration or the administration of Roh Moo-hyun, the political mentor of Moon, were moved into powerful posts. 

According to the ministry, Han Dong-hoon, head of the anticorruption and organized crimes department of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, was named as deputy head of the Busan High Prosecutors’ Office. Han was the lead prosecutor in the investigations into academic and financial transgressions allegedly committed by former Justice Minister Cho Kuk and his family. 

Park Chan-ho, head of the public security department of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, was named head of the Jeju District Prosecutors’ Office. Park has been investigating the allegations that the Blue House abused its power to influence the 2018 Ulsan mayoral election and help a Moon associate win. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

Here is what prosecutors had to say:

“This is an overt attempt to dismantle the investigations [against the administration],” a senior prosecutor said. 

After Moon formally appointed Choo as justice minister last week, a massive reshuffle was expected. The announcement was made abruptly Wednesday evening.  

Choo left her office at the government complex in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, around 4 p.m. Wednesday and headed to the Blue House, presumably to brief Moon about her plan. 

Two hours after Choo left the Blue House, the ministry announced the reshuffle around 7:30 p.m. “I have never seen a reshuffle announced after sunset,” said a prosecution official. 

Legal sources said the reshuffle was a political amputation of Yoon’s authorities. They said prosecutors loyal to the administration were appointed to the vacancies left by Yoon’s allies.

You can read more at the link, but when you hear the Korean left talk about prosecutor reform, this is the reform they are talking about. The next step will be having the prosecutors closely aligned with the Korean left begin investigating their political rivals.