Jeong Seong-ho, the Minister of Justice, emphasized the importance of ensuring that no innocent victims arise from discussions on abolishing the prosecution's supplementary investigation rights.
Minister Jeong made these remarks during a full committee meeting of the National Assembly's Legislative and Judiciary Committee on July 15, responding to a question from Park Eun-jung, a member of the Justice Party. Park referenced past allegations involving former Vice Minister of Justice Kim Hak-eui and criticized the prosecution for conducting what she described as a "self-serving investigation."
Jeong acknowledged that the Kim Hak-eui case was a "shameful incident involving prosecutors" and noted that political power and the prosecution colluded to cover up the case, leading to the silencing of victims' complaints.
He pointed out that as a result, the Moon Jae-in administration initiated prosecution reforms, but these efforts were incomplete as some special cases remained under investigation. He added that with the change in government, prosecutors' investigative powers were fully restored, resulting in various aftereffects.
However, Jeong expressed confidence that if the prosecution is restructured into a public prosecution office and its investigative functions are completely eliminated, issues of prosecutorial abuse of power from the past would not recur.
He further stated, "If we are to proceed on the premise of abolishing supplementary investigations, we must ensure that there are no unjust victims among the 1% of cases. We need to create a system that meticulously screens police case handling to maximize the protection of victims' rights."
Additionally, Jeong advocated for the necessity of a preliminary transfer system, where all cases investigated by the police would be reviewed by the prosecution. He explained, "The mere fact that the prosecution can review cases will help control arbitrary police investigations."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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