Minister Jeong Seong-ho said on the 26th that after the Government Organization Act amendment centered on abolishing the Prosecutors' Office passed the National Assembly plenary session, this was "the solemn demand of the people to put new wine in new wineskins," and added, "We will push ahead with high-quality prosecution reform." Jeong posted this position on Facebook the same day.
Jeong said, "The prosecution, once a product of reform, has fallen to the target of reform, and the prosecution must humbly reflect on itself." He said, "There must be serious reflection and introspection on whether, by abusing prosecutorial power, it ever turned the guilty into the innocent and the innocent into the guilty, and whether, intoxicated with unchecked power, it ever volunteered to become a tool of those in power."
Jeong said, "A president who was a former prosecutor general must apologize before the people for leading the destruction of democracy and condoning the destruction of the Constitution, and for thoroughly turning a blind eye to the corruption of the president's family," adding, "This must not be evaded as the deviation of a few." He continued, "The investigative and prosecution agency to be newly launched a year from now has a duty to learn from the past and be reborn as a just institution that safeguards the people's human rights."
He said, "We will set aside emotion and exclude the logic of good and evil to build an objective and fair criminal justice system in which the majority of people can be protected from crime," adding, "With reform that adds wisdom to clarity, we will not repeat the past mistakes and will fulfill the mandate of the times for prosecution reform for the people."
The National Assembly held a plenary session this afternoon and passed the Government Organization Act containing provisions such as abolishing the Prosecutors' Office and establishing the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency. It passed with 174 in favor, one against, and three abstentions out of 180 present. The Prosecutors' Office will be abolished for the first time in 78 years and will become the Public Prosecution Office under the Ministry of Justice in September next year. The Serious Crimes Investigation Agency will be set up under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. The party and government plan to further discuss contentious issues, including whether to retain the prosecution's supplemental investigative authority, during a one-year grace period.