Minister Jung Sung-ho of the Ministry of Justice said regarding discussions to abolish prosecutors' supplementary investigation authority that "what matters is ensuring there are no victims among the unfortunate 1%." He agreed with reducing prosecutorial investigative powers but suggested that an institutional mechanism is needed to recheck police investigations.
The Minister answered this way on the 15th at a full meeting of The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee in response to a question from Park Eun-jung of the Rebuilding Korea Party. Park cited cases such as the past "villa sex-for-favors allegation" involving former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice Kim Hak-ui, noting that prosecutors conducted investigations that protected their own.
The Minister said, "Cases such as the past Kim Hak-ui case are disgraceful incidents involving prosecutors," adding, "I am well aware that political power and the prosecution colluded at the time to protect their own, that the case was swept under the rug, and that victims' pleas were concealed."
He continued, "As a result, prosecutorial reform was pursued starting under the Moon Jae-in administration, but it ended incomplete, leaving some special cases within the scope of investigation," and "after the change of administration, prosecutors' investigative authority was fully revived, and various aftereffects occurred."
However, the Minister believed that if the Prosecution Service is reorganized into a Public Prosecution Office and the function to initiate investigations disappears completely, the issue of prosecutorial abuse as in the past would be hard to repeat. A Public Prosecution Office refers to an organization focused on indictments and maintaining prosecutions—namely, proving charges in court—rather than on investigations.
The Minister said that victim protection measures are necessary even on the premise of abolishing the supplementary investigation authority. He said, "If we proceed on the premise of abolishing supplementary investigations, we must be more thorough in ensuring there are no victims among the unfortunate 1%," and "please design the system meticulously so that by screening police case handling, victims' rights can be guaranteed to the greatest extent."
The Minister also mentioned the need for a system of transferring all cases so prosecutors can reexamine cases handled by the police. Transferring all cases is a method by which all cases investigated by the police are handed over to prosecutors for review. He said, "The mere fact that prosecutors can review cases again could rein in arbitrary investigations by the police."
Former prosecutors are also pushing back against the move to abolish prosecutors' supplementary investigation authority. The Prosecutors' Alumni Association and former Ministers of the Ministry of Justice and prosecutors general issued a statement the same day, arguing that prosecutors' supplementary investigation authority should be fully recognized.