Deputy Chief Prosecutor Park Sang-yong of the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office, for whom a Ministry of Justice disciplinary action has been sought in connection with the SSANGBANGWOOL remittance-to-North-Korea investigation, said, "I will never give up." He criticized the so-called special counsel bill on alleged fabricated indictments being pushed by the Democratic Party of Korea as "a structure in which responsibility cannot be pursued."
On the afternoon of the 24th, Prosecutor Park attended a debate at the National Assembly Members' Office Building hosted by Rep. Choi Su-jin of the People Power Party on whether to cancel indictments. Asked how he would respond to the Ministry of Justice's disciplinary action, he said, "I will fight during the disciplinary phase, in court, and even if I am indicted by a special counsel," adding, "In this fight, I will never give up."
Prosecutor Park also raised issues with controversy over whether the special counsel bill on alleged fabricated indictments is aimed at canceling the indictment in a case related to President Lee Jae-myung. Referring to the special counsel who would have the authority to cancel indictments under the bill, he said, "There is no accountability. It is like a traveling shop — to put it nicely, a pop-up store."
He went on, "If a pop-up store disappears, isn't there nowhere to seek recourse even if you bought a defective product?" adding, "If you can't hold anyone accountable, it is the same as having no sovereignty." He then said, "Do you think the People Power Party wouldn't do it if it took power?" and added, "This is not a problem of a particular party but a problem between citizens and power."
Also attending the debate was Chief Prosecutor Jeong Yu-mi, who had publicly criticized the prosecution's 'giving up on appealing the Daejang-dong case.' Chief Prosecutor Jeong, noting the potential for abuse of the indictment cancellation system, said, "I have never seen a case where a prosecutor cancels an indictment on the grounds that the indictment itself was wrong."
Chief Prosecutor Jeong said, "If an indictment is filed alleging that a husband murdered his wife, it would take something like the wife returning alive in the middle of the trial to cancel the indictment." The point is that canceling an indictment should happen only in exceptional cases.
She said, "I, too, feel that I failed to play a role in setting the prosecution straight and I feel sorry to my juniors," but added, "I wonder whether the senior former prosecutors who are actually in politics are not sorry to their juniors."