When the Democratic Party of Korea formally proposed a bill to 'completely deprive the prosecution's investigative powers', the incumbent chief prosecutor expressed his resignation, criticizing "the harm and inconvenience to all the people".
According to the legal community, Kim Jeong-hwan (47, 33rd class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute), the 3rd chief of the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office, posted a resignation letter to the prosecution's internal network 'Ypros' at about 1:31 am today (16th).
This is the third time that the prosecution has expressed its resignation in protest against the refusal of the inspection.
Bok-hyeon Lee (50/32), the 2nd Detective Division of the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office, expressed his resignation on the 13th, and Kim Soo-hyeon (52/30), the head of the Tongyeong Branch of the Changwon District Prosecutor's Office, expressed his resignation on the 14th.
Chief Prosecutor Kim Jeong-hwan said, "This is a bill that changes the basis of the criminal justice system, but the content that changes in only 13 lines of the reason for the proposal is surprisingly simple." "I couldn't shake the feeling that it didn't take much time," he pointed out.
He continued, "They say that the dualization of investigative and prosecution powers is the basis of the judicial system in a democratic country, and now prosecutors only have to file and maintain charges and not conduct investigations." added.
He said, "The youngest prosecutor in my department asked about the current situation and the position on the amendment, but he did not give me any answer."
"If there is no transparent and sufficient explanation for the reason why the inspection is necessary and how to resolve the inconvenience of the public, not only the members of the prosecution but also many people will be unable to erase the concern that the basis of criminal justice will be damaged due to impure intentions," he said.
Prosecutor Kim also added the opinion that "the prosecution must have painful reflection and improvement measures on its own" to the point that the fairness and objectivity of the prosecution's investigation were not guaranteed.
The Democratic Party proposed amendments to the Prosecutor's Office Act and the Criminal Procedure Act yesterday in the name of all 172 members of the Democratic Party.
Justice Minister Park Beom-gye, who also serves as a member of the National Assembly, was also included in the list.
The Democratic Party is pursuing schedules such as the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee and plenary session with the goal of passing the State Council next month and implementing it in August of this year.
In response to this, Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo expressed his objection to the disclosure, and the entire prosecution, including the chief of the high prosecutor's office and the prosecutor's office across the country, is protesting.
On the 19th, the public prosecutors are scheduled to hold a National Review Prosecutor's Representative Meeting at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office to discuss countermeasures against the inspection.
(Photo = Yonhap News)