Aftermath Just One Day After Prosecution Disbandment Announcement... Acting Prosecutor General Nomanseok "Should Be Designed from the People's Perspective"

[Financial News] After the announcement of the government's organizational restructuring plan, which includes the abolition of the prosecution office, there is immediate aftermath within the prosecution. It is interpreted that there is an intention to reflect the prosecution's opinion as much as possible in the future public discussion process and to protect the 'supplementary investigation rights' not included in the reorganization plan.
Nomanseok, Acting Prosecutor General (Deputy Chief of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office), said to the press while arriving at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office on the morning of the 8th, the day after the announcement of the reorganization plan, "The prosecution, as specified in the constitution, is at risk of being renamed by law," and "Everything is due to the prosecution's faults, and I deeply reflect on that point."
He continued, "The detailed direction of future prosecution reform will proceed," and "I hope the detailed direction will be designed from the perspective of the people."
The overall context of the remarks is read as an intention to reflect on the prosecution's mistakes. However, when dividing the context and looking at the selected sentences and words, it is closer to expressing dissatisfaction.
Acting Noh said, "The prosecution specified in the constitution is at risk of being renamed by law," and expressed the abolition of the prosecution office and the establishment of the public prosecution office as a "risk of being renamed."
The constitution is the highest norm that takes precedence over all laws. All laws, orders, ordinances, etc., must not violate the constitution. Therefore, if other laws or regulations conflict with the constitution, the constitution is applied first, and unconstitutional laws can be nullified through the Constitutional Court's judgment.
Therefore, Acting Noh's remarks can be interpreted as indirectly expressing the 'unconstitutional issue' by stating that the prosecution, specified in the constitution, is at risk of being 'forcibly' renamed by the subordinate Government Organization Act amendment.
The expression "risk of being renamed" instead of "risk of being renamed" is analyzed as an intention to highlight that the change was not chosen by the prosecution itself but is an unreasonable disposition by external coercion.
The "people's perspective" part is in the same context. It seems to hope to listen to the opposing public opinion during the one-year grace period through legislative notice, public opinion collection, etc.
Acting Noh, after attending the 32nd International Cooperation Meeting for Drug Eradication (ADLOMICO) held in Busan on the 3rd, expressed more explicitly his uncomfortable feelings by stating, "It is not the prosecution's authority but its duty to reveal the substantive truth through supplementary investigations while observing due process," during his visit to encourage the Busan High and District Prosecutors' Offices.
The Prosecutor General represents the prosecution organization. As the position has been vacant for about two months, Acting Noh is fulfilling the role of the Prosecutor General. Therefore, it is accepted as the official position of the prosecution. It was the first time Acting Noh revealed his position on prosecution reform that day.
Prosecutors' backlash is also continuing. Cha Hodong, head of the Seosan Branch of the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office, questioned on the prosecution's internal network Epros, "Why was the prosecution abolished without any consideration of why it had the name of judicial police, why prosecutors with the same qualifications as judges with guaranteed status oversaw criminal investigation work," and "To solve the problem, the control over the prosecution's investigation should be strengthened, but what kind of idea is it to remove control over the police instead?"
The Prosecution Alumni Association (President Han Sangdae, former Prosecutor General), a gathering of retired prosecutors, also issued a statement urging withdrawal, calling it "unconstitutional."
The Prosecution Alumni Association stated, "Reform must be carried out within the framework of the constitution," and "hasty reform risks losing the momentum of reform by causing constitutional controversy."
They continued, "Changing the name of an institution recognized by the constitution by law goes against the spirit of the constitution and undermines the hierarchy of the legal system," and "This is no different from changing the 'court' in the constitution to 'tribunal' or 'Prime Minister' to 'Vice President' by law, and no one can deny that such an act is unconstitutional."
They also requested, "The true reform desired by the people can be sufficiently achieved without changing the name in a way that bears unconstitutional controversy," and "The core of reform should be on how the prosecution will function for the people, not on the name."
Before the announcement of the government reorganization plan, criticism voices on the plan to abolish supplementary investigations were posted on Epros by Ahn Mihyeon, a prosecutor at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, Jeong Gyeongjin, head of the Important Economic Crime Investigation Division at the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office, and Gong Bongsuk, a prosecutor at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office. 



jisseo@fnnews.com Minji Seo, Dongkyu Kim