Yoon Ho-jung, the candidate for Minister of the Interior and Safety, stated on the 18th that "the separation of the prosecution's investigative and prosecutorial powers is the most fundamental principle of prosecutorial reform."
During a personnel hearing held at the National Assembly that day, candidate Yoon responded to a query from ruling Democratic Party of Korea member Chae Hyun-il, asking whether he agreed with placing the Serious Crime Investigation Agency under the Ministry of Interior and Safety to facilitate the separation of the investigation and prosecution, which is the core of prosecutorial reform.
Previously, the Democratic Party of Korea proposed a bill to abolish the prosecution office as part of so-called "prosecutorial reform," transferring investigative powers to the newly established Serious Crime Investigation Agency under the Ministry of Interior and Safety, and prosecutorial powers to the Public Prosecutor's Office under the Ministry of Justice. According to this bill, the Serious Crime Investigation Agency would be granted investigative authority over eight major crimes, including corruption, economic, public officials, elections, defense projects, major disasters, as well as insurrection, foreign exchange, and drug crimes.
Yoon stated, "During the first amendment of the prosecution office law in the past, the six major crimes' investigative powers were left with the prosecution, which unfortunately led our citizens to experience 'prosecutorial dictatorship.'" He added, "An attempt was made to revise the prosecution office law a second time, but corruption and economic crimes were left behind."
He continued, "When a Minister of Justice from a prosecutor's background interprets the relevant provisions, he effectively diluted the intent of the law revision by amending the enforcement decree to allow investigations to commence under the pretext of reinforcing investigation powers or filing complaints for other crimes."
Yoon emphasized that "the most important aspect of prosecutorial reform is to embody the spirit of 'a prosecutor who has initiated an investigation cannot prosecute,' as newly established in Article 4, Section 2 of the prosecution office law," and stated, "The matter of which investigative agency will be assigned to which department, and in what manner, is currently being discussed in the Presidential Committee on Policy Planning, and I will faithfully implement the results of these discussions."
Regarding concerns that placing the Serious Crime Investigation Agency alongside the Korean National Police Agency under the Ministry of Interior and Safety could lead to excessive concentration of power, he acknowledged, "I fully recognize these concerns." However, he added, "Currently, the National Investigation Headquarters of the Korean National Police Agency is also under the Ministry of Interior and Safety, but the Minister does not have direct investigative authority over the Korean National Police Agency," and noted, "He has no command authority over individual cases currently under investigation."