Seoul Mayor Park Won-sun accused the prosecution yesterday of his charges of murder, including President Lee Man-hee and other leaders of Sincheon. "If they had taken positive steps, many people would have been able to prevent deaths or injuries," Park said.

The lawsuit was filed by mayor Park Won-soon, but it doesn't need to be explained for a long time about the application of murder charges. In order to apply murder to Lee Man-hee, as in the case of Captain Lee Jun-seok who escaped during the Sewol ferry disaster, he would have to apply 'homicide murder due to misdeeds' (the sluggish government act of murder crime). It is questionable if it can be interpreted as the same level of behavior as the passenger's mandatory relief. A more detailed explanation is left to legal experts.



● Mayor Park Won-soon is more concerned about 'homicide charges'

More concerned than the murder charge itself is the prosecution's all-rounderism, which is based on the words and actions of Mayor Park and other politicians. It's right to do something to stop the corona spreading. But doing anything is different from doing anything. Attempting to use prosecution investigation to overcome problems that need to be resolved in the areas of politics and administration is intensifying the severity of prosecutionism. The prosecution of the prosecution of almost all politically controversial social issues is the main reason why the Prosecutor's Republic system is maintained.

Let's look at the message that Mayor Park Won-soon posted on Facebook yesterday (1st) before submitting a complaint. Mayor Park said, "I ask the Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-Yeol. The arrest of President Man-hee Lee, the head of the virus epicenter that threatens the lives of the people, is the role of the prosecution." For this reason, "Implementary leaders including Lee Man-hee must apologize to the citizens immediately, and appoint themselves to the corona 19 test, as well as to cooperate fully with the authorities, so that all members can be tested immediately." It suggests that you are not responding.


● 'Arrest' is a means to substantiate the alleged crime

As Mayor Park Won-soon said, President Lee Man-hee has a duty to cooperate with the authorities. It is also necessary to step out of a quiet place and instruct all the believers to be examined. However, it should be clear that 'arrest' is not a means of administration or threat, but a means of investigation to prove a crime. If the court issues a warrant because it is deemed necessary to prove suspicion of violating the Act on Prevention and Management of Infectious Diseases (hereinafter referred to as 'Infectious Disease Prevention Act'), the investigating agency arrests President Lee Man-hee. It is possible to do this (except for emergency arrests), but you cannot use arrest as a means to comprehend President Lee Man-hee's whereabouts or to cooperate in defense.


There is no problem in claiming President Lee Man-hee's punishment. Though not a homicide, allegations of violations of infectious disease prevention are likely to be admitted. But arguing that anyone who doesn't cooperate with the legitimate administrative actions of the government should be punished, and prosecutors claiming that they should be arrested now. No matter how urgent, it is doubtful that a politician from a human rights lawyer can justify insisting that he or she should 'arrest' the party in order to obtain assistance in administrative action.


● I reduced the 'prosecutors' direct investigation'…

In addition, this argument is at odds with the policy of reducing direct investigations by the prosecution, which has been strongly enforced by the Moon Jae-in government since at least last year. Even those who argued that it was necessary to maintain a "prosecutor's investigation" in a certain area were to allow for large-scale economic crimes, civil servants' corruption crimes, and election crimes. I didn't mean to stay. Nevertheless, it is hard to understand that a prominent politician from the ruling party, who has been pushing the police to take charge of major investigations, has suddenly demanded the arrest of President Lee Man-hee as "prosecutor general Yoon".

Claiming to arrest Lee Man-hee, who does not cooperate in the defense, seems inappropriate, but if you have argued that you need to reduce the number of prosecution investigations, it means you should ask the police, not the prosecution. As shown by the failure of the arrest of Yoo Byung-un, the salvationist during the Sewol ferry disaster, 'arrest' is also an area where police dominate better than prosecutors. Is it too much to interpret the intention to attract prosecutor general Yoon Seok-yul or prosecutor to the issue of Shincheonji as the background of the action demanded by the attorney general without arrest of the president?


● Secretary of Foreign Affairs "The Seizure Instruction"

In addition, the allegation of arresting President Lee Man-hee, who does not cooperate in defense, seems to be in line with a series of claims that the prosecution should conduct a “seizure search” in order to secure the list of Shincheon members. Kim Kyung-soo, Governor of Gyeongnam Province, and Mayor Park Won-soon made this claim, and Minister Choo Mi-ae expressed a stance that could be interpreted in a similar sense.

Let's look at the case of Secretary Chu Mi-ae. Minister of Justice Chu Mi-ae sent a text message to reporters on February 28, saying, "The Supreme Prosecutors 'Office has instructed the prosecutors' offices to respond promptly and strongly to seizure search and other acts against the prevention of quarantine in some areas." He said.

The biggest problem with this message is that the Attorney General's "Seizure Instruction" has been released to the outside. Seizure search is based on intimidation, which means that the seizure search target is not known in advance. If it is known that the seizure search will come, it is because of human natural behavior to conceal items that can be evidence, such as Professor Chung Kyung-sim, the wife of the former secretary of state. But what would the person who would be seized behave if the Minister of Justice sent a message to reporters and revealed that they "instructed the prosecution, etc."? Naturally, the likelihood of destroying or escaping evidence increases. In this case, the possibility of concealing or destroying the membership list increases.

If he thought it was really necessary to obtain evidence to prove suspicion by seizure search (if it was a departure from the principle) or thought he had to obtain a list of Shinchon members by seizure search, The disclosure to the outside was inappropriate.


● Do you need to seize and search for a 'Shincheonji list'?

But what's even more prominent in Chu's message is that he emphasized the “seizure” of the various methods of investigation. This seems to be irrelevant to the mention of the search for seizure search by Governor Kim Kyung-soo, Mayor Park Won-soon, and several politicians. Governor Kim Kyung-su said in a briefing on February 24, saying, "We are currently responding in two directions with regard to the new land. One is reviewing compulsory administrative orders, including the closure of facilities and the ban on assembly. One is obtaining the government and seizure search. I'm reviewing the room. " Mayor Park Won-soon also wrote on Facebook on February 23 that "the government should secure a list of new members for the full inspection as soon as possible, even with the use of forced measures such as seizure and search for the Shincheon church."

The words of Governor Kim Kyung-soo and Mayor Park Won-soon all assume that "seizure search" is a compulsory tool that can be used to secure a list of Shinchon regions. However, like the arrests described above, seizure search is not a compulsory means for administrative purposes. Seizure search is an investigation process in which an investigating agency issues a warrant from the court to collect evidence to establish the suspect's alleged offense. In this way, the data obtained by the investigative agencies can only be used for the purpose of substantiating the alleged crime. It is illegal in principle to hand over the list of congregations obtained through seizure search to the administrative authorities. That's because it's irrelevant to substantiating the alleged crime of infectious disease prevention.

For example, In 2012, the Central Public Prosecutor's Office of Public Security, Seoul, secured the list of party members by confiscating the servers of the Unified Progress Party in the process of investigating suspicions of unfair elections. In this case, the prosecution is allowed to use the list of party members to substantiate alleged violations of the election law. This is why the court issued a seizure search warrant. However, it is illegal in principle if the prosecution passes the list of party members secured to the Blue House or the HR Innovation Department. This is not related to the proof of violation of election law.

Of course, in very urgent situations, such as the current Corona 19 incident, passing information confiscated for investigation purposes to the quarantine authorities without the consent of the parties may be exceptionally acceptable and publicly acceptable. Nevertheless, referring to seizure search as a natural means to achieve the administrative purpose of quarantine or forcing the administration to bring up the list of members, it is argued that "the prosecution is now arresting Lee Man-hee." Likewise, it's quite dangerous.


● Don't look for a 'good knife' to stop 'the prosecution'

The common way of thinking found in the claim that the prosecution must come to prevent the spread of corona 19 is 'prosecutor universalism'. Prosecutors who have the right to investigate and prosecute in any way develop criminal law logic to undertake investigations, and as a result can act as executives or judges on various social issues. In other words, it is a way of thinking that uses the power of the prosecution to solve social problems. A typical example is the actions of lawmakers who submit complaints to prosecutors using defamation laws whenever there is a political struggle. Those who insist on 'prosecutor reform' such as Minister Park Won-soon remain in the same way of thinking.


In the future, it is possible that prosecutor general Yoon Seok-yeol and the prosecution will act on the actions required by Mayor Park Won-soon. It's so urgent that the prosecution won't be criticized as much as it should for some reason (though some recall the massive prosecutor's investigation at the time of the Sewol disaster). It is possible that the prosecution actually arrests President Lee Man-hee and demands a warrant of arrest. This does not change the fundamental problem of the Prosecutor's Republic, which uses the prosecution's right of investigation and prosecution to solve social problems.

The prosecutor's republic will never fall apart if the habit of using the prosecution as a solver is abandoned. If you create an airspace, adjust the power of investigation, and even prosecutors become a clean and fair organization unlike in the past, the prosecution's overwhelming power will not disappear as long as this behavior continues. If you really want to reform the prosecution, you should throw away the habit of finding a 'knife to cut' when you are in a hurry.