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| Candidate Park Bum-gye, Minister of Justice, is answering questions from reporters as he goes to the office for a personnel hearing prepared in the Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the morning of the 21st. 2021.1.21/News1 © News1 Reporter Kiseon Hwang |
Candidate Park Bum-gye said that he met with lawyer Song Kwang-soo, who served as the first prosecutor general of the participatory government, and young lawyers with various backgrounds and listened to the’judicial trial’.
Candidate Park went to work at the office of the personnel hearing preparation group at the Seoul High Prosecutor’s Office in Seocho-dong, Seoul at 10 am on the 21st, and met with reporters, “I heard a lot of good things, but it would be very helpful if I could work as a minister.”
According to the preparatory group, Candidate Park was at the office of the preparatory group four times on the 15th to 20th, including attorney Song and an excellent attorney selected by the Korean Bar Association, dedicated to public elections, former prosecutors, the director of the Judicial Center, a lawyer for a democratic society, and a legal prosecution reform committee. Meetings were held on a scale of less than a person
Candidate Park referred to former President Roh Moo-hyun’s’conversation with prosecutors’ during the participatory government in March 2003.
When former President Song said,’I apologize on behalf of my juniors when talking with the prosecutor’, he said that he talked a lot about the Ministry of Justice and prosecutors’ officials during the participatory government, referring to the anecdote that Roh laughed loudly.
In a dialogue with the prosecutor, Roh debated freely with 10 representatives of the prosecutor on the subject of reforms, etc. At that time, President Moon Jae-in was seated at the Blue House as a senior citizen, and candidate Park as a second civilian secretary.
Former Prosecutor General Kim Gak-young was appointed as a successor when he resigned immediately after a conversation with the prosecutor after a conflict with former President Roh and former Justice Minister Kang Geum-sil over the prosecution personnel.
However, they objected to the Blue House and former Ministers Kang, who wanted to abolish the Central Investigation Department at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, and for this reason, former Minister Kang resigned, while former Chancellor Song remained in office.
In addition, at the meeting, President Song Jeon stressed the necessity of dialogue between the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, saying, “We must avoid a culture where only prosecutors mingle with each other and strive to coexist with various members of society.
Several lawyers expressed their opinions on the need to revitalize the criminal public lawyer system, make the investigation process transparent, promote the system-centered prosecution reform, and eliminate the absence of control towers related to school violence and child abuse.
The public criminal lawyer system expands the current state-elect lawyer system, which is involved in the trial stage, so that suspects without economic power can receive legal assistance from the investigation stage. In 2017, the National Planning Advisory Committee, which serves as the Moon Jae-in government’s takeover committee, announced its introduction policy.
In this regard, Candidate Park said, “The Moon Jae-in government’s state affairs, the criminal public lawyer system, has not been implemented,” and said, “We will consider in-depth research and implementation plans.”
Candidate Park said, “It’s still in the hearing stage” when asked about the idea of the prosecution’s command, and “there are the standards drawn in my mind, but it’s difficult to reveal now.”