With reports that Jung Sung-ho, Minister of the Ministry of Justice, has offered to resign to President Lee Jae-myung, independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon said, "Running away does not erase responsibility."
On the 24th, Han wrote on his social media (SNS), "The Minister of the Ministry of Justice has a duty to prevent harm to the public, such as a rise in fabricated and distorted investigations and a 'ping-pong hell,' due to the Democratic Party of Korea's ban on supplementary investigations," arguing as such.
Han said, "As the competent Minister, Minister Jung should have made his position clear on the ban on supplementary investigations, and as a ruling-party lawmaker, he should have gone to the Democratic Party's general assembly and opposed and blocked the adoption of the party line banning supplementary investigations," adding, "But he has not done so until now."
He continued, "As a former Minister of the Ministry of Justice, I sincerely ask the current Minister of the Ministry of Justice," and said, "Even now, he must fulfill his duty."
Minister Jung was recently reported to have offered to resign to the president. It is seen as the result of the Democratic Party-led move to strip prosecutors of their authority to open investigations and, further, to abolish prosecutors' supplementary investigation authority.
Minister Jung has argued that if the supplementary investigation authority is abolished, a check is needed on the police, which would then monopolize investigative powers, and that "full-case transfers" should be reinstated. However, within the Democratic Party, the dominant view is negative, saying that if full-case transfers return, prosecutors could abuse their authority.
President Lee was reportedly dissuading Minister Jung from resigning. With the abolition of the Prosecution Service in Oct. and the launch of the Public Prosecution Agency and the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency ahead, the intent is to have him continue serving as minister.