Ministry of Justice "Deputy Prosecutors Return to Their Office"... Jeong Seong-ho's First Directive as Minister

[Financial News] The Ministry of Justice has instructed prosecutors who have been involved in maintaining prosecutions for cases of other prosecutors' offices under the status of deputy to return to their original offices. This is the first directive of Minister Jeong Seong-ho after taking office, interpreted as part of the 'prosecution reform' aimed at separating investigation and prosecution.
The Ministry of Justice announced on the 1st that "Minister Jeong has directed the operation of the deputy system for the purpose of maintaining prosecutions by reasonably harmonizing the two values of the 'principle of separating investigation and prosecution' and 'exercising prosecutorial power to protect the state and people safely from crime'."
The deputy for the purpose of maintaining prosecutions means that even if transferred to another prosecutor's office, they receive a deputy appointment to work at the existing prosecutor's office or attend and participate in trial dates for cases investigated by the existing prosecutor's office. Although it was operated for efficient prosecution maintenance, there have been concerns that investigation prosecutors' involvement in trials contradicts the purpose of separating investigation and prosecution and that investigation prosecutors are excessively maintaining prosecutions.
The Ministry of Justice has decided that prosecutors who have been deputies for a long time should quickly hand over direct trial work and return to their original offices.
On the 1st, the Ministry limited regular deputy involvement in trials of other offices to exceptional cases requiring expertise or major crimes affecting people's livelihoods, allowing temporary deputies.
A Ministry of Justice official stated, "As part of the 'prosecution reform for the people', trial prosecutors were allowed to maintain prosecutions from an objective perspective, distancing themselves from confirmation bias that may form during the investigation process," adding, "While realizing the 'separation of investigation and prosecution' principle, we ensured that there are no gaps in protecting the people from crime." 


kyu0705@fnnews.com Kim Dong-kyu Reporter