As prosecutors continue to push back against the National Assembly's "special committee for a parliamentary inquiry into allegations of fabricated indictments by political prosecutors under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration," Minister Jung Sung-ho of the Ministry of Justice called for self-reflection over past prosecutorial abuse of indictment power.
On the 19th, the Minister said on Facebook that "before anything else, prosecutors must engage in reflection and introspection on why they lost the public's trust." Referring to the Supreme Court ruling on the "Seoul City civil servant spy fabrication case," the Minister noted, "It is common decency for a person with sense to apologize on the spot even if they merely bump shoulders by mistake, yet prosecutors destroyed a person's life and still have not apologized to the victim, let alone to the public."
Earlier, Yoo Woo-seong, who worked as a contract civil servant at Seoul City Hall, was arrested and indicted in Feb. 2013 on charges of violating the National Security Act, but was acquitted with finality by the Supreme Court in Oct. 2015. In this case, the Supreme Court for the first time recognized prosecutorial abuse of indictment power.
The Minister also said, "Arrogance—born of the self-conviction of 'prosecutorial infallibility' that kept silent about its own faults while being harsh on the faults of others—and the cruelty that, after seizing greater power, hunted political opponents, reduced the prosecution to a target of reform," adding, "Even if one argues these were the faults of some political prosecutors, we have reached a reality where the public does not sympathize."
He continued, "I am well aware of the difficult reality prosecutors now face and the hard work of many prosecutors, but the public expects the prosecution to take responsibility, apologize for the pain and suffering inflicted on the public, and show change." He added, "There should also be concrete and sincere apologies—not merely formal expressions of regret—to the victims of past abuses of prosecutorial power."