Kwon Chang-young’s second comprehensive special prosecutor team and the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office have clashed head-on over the submission of records.
Yonhap reported Thursday that the special prosecutor team said the acting prosecutor general refused its request for records and labeled the move an “obstruction of investigation,” asking the Justice Ministry to begin disciplinary procedures. The team said it sent two official requests in March and April seeking inspection-related materials, but the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office ultimately declined to provide them.
The special prosecutor team said the refusal violates the comprehensive special prosecutor law and warned, “If noncooperation continues, we will take legal action.”
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office immediately rejected the claim. It said the inspection materials are classified as internal confidential documents and cannot be handed over voluntarily, requiring a search-and-seizure warrant.
“The special prosecutor’s request could run counter to existing law and the warrant principle,” it said, adding that it “informed them to submit the materials through a warrant, in line with relevant rules.”
It also said the special prosecutor law’s provision on submitting materials is intended as a basis for transferring cases, not a clause that compels the submission of all records, underscoring a difference in legal interpretation.
With the two sides remaining at odds over how to interpret the law, the dispute is increasingly likely to disrupt the pace of the investigation.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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