Im Eun-jeong, inspector of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, Prosecutors’ Office. yunhap news
The Ministry of Justice made it clear that it did not require the direction of the Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol to grant the investigative power to the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office Policy Researcher Im Eun-jeong.
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office recently requested that Researcher Lim be confirmed as a prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office, and asked for confirmation of the legal basis for granting the right to investigate, and the Ministry of Justice sent a reply with the same content on the 2nd.
When the Ministry of Justice announced the personnel affairs to Researcher Lim, the Prosecutors’ Office Act Article 15 was re-listed as a basis. The prosecution researcher, who is the prosecutor, is said to be able to concurrently serve as the prosecutor of the high prosecutor or the district prosecutor. The Ministry of Justice emphasized that “Investigation rights were granted to Researcher Lim by the president’s appointment of personnel based on the Prosecutors’ Office Act, so it is not necessary to have a separate instruction from President Yun.”
Until now, the great prosecutor was in the position that he could exercise the right of investigation only when the official office presented in the office division or the delegation of the prosecutor general was concurrently performed. The prosecution policy researcher, who was in charge of Researcher Lim, is a non-directed affair that is not in the provisions of the division of affairs of the Supreme Prosecutors Office.
The Ministry of Justice also questioned the impartiality of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office for the unusual personnel measures that issued an adjunct appointment to the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office to the prosecutor in charge of the prosecutor’s office. Unlike other prosecution researchers, where the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office is in charge of non-compliance, researcher Lim has not been given an order to work as a prosecutor at the front line, which is granted the right to investigate.
Article 4 of the Prosecutor’s Service Rules stipulates that the Prosecutor General may have the prosecutor’s office under its jurisdiction act on behalf of each other only in cases where it is necessary and unavoidable to perform his/her duties. It is the authority of the prosecutor general to issue an acting representative. Researcher Lim was in charge of researching the prosecution policy, which was not affiliated with the 1st and 3rd departments of the prosecution department, which had the authority to investigate.
The Ministry of Justice said, “There was a limit on the authority of Researcher Lim to disclose and respond strictly to crimes related to misconduct while performing the inspection-related affairs under the direction of the supervisory supervisor. In relation to the investigation, the authority was granted.”
Justice Minister Park Beom-gye also met with reporters after the state council meeting that day, saying, “Aren’t all prosecutors at the front-line prosecutors’ offices have the right to investigate? I said hello because I thought that was what was set by the law.”
However, inside and outside the legal profession, there is no doubt that the Ministry of Justice granted investigative power to Researcher Lim for the purpose of prosecuting the suspicion of a perjury teacher by the bribery investigation team of former Prime Minister Han Myung-sook.
Reporter Lee Ga-young [email protected]
